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JOHN T. MORSE, JR. 



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ALBERT GALLATIN 



JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS 




BOSTON 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

85 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



Copyright, 1883, 
Bl HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COl 



All rights reserved. 









7%e Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company, 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER L 

tun 

Early Life • • • • 1 

CHAPTER IL 
Pennsylvania Legislature 83 

CHAPTER m. 
United States Senate . . • • • • • 58 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Whiskey Insubrection •••••• 69 

CHAPTER V. 
Member of Congress ..••••• 100 

CHAPTER VI. 
Secretary of the Treasury . • • • .176 

CHAPTER VII. 
In the Cabinet. 289 



CHAPTER VIII. 
In Diplomacy 313 



^ CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAOX 

Candidate for the Vice-Presidency • • • • 368 

CHAPTER X 
Society — Literature — Science . • • • • 374 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY LIFE. 

Of all European-born citizens who have risen to 
fame in the political service of the United States, 
Albert Gallatin is the most distinguished. His 
merit in legislation, administration, and diplo- 
macy is generally recognized, and he is venerated 
by men of science on both continents. Not, how- 
ever, until the recent publication of his writings 
has the extent of his influence upon the political 
life and growth of the country been to our genera- 
tion other than a vague tradition. Independence 
and nationality were achieved by the Revolution, 
in which he bore a slight and unimportant part ; 
but, from the time of the peace until his death, 
his influence, either by direct action or indirect 
counsel, may be traced through the history of the 
United States. 

The son of Jean Gallatin and his wife, Sophie 
Albertine Rollaz, he was born in the city of 
Geneva on January 29, 1761, and was baptized 



2 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

by the name of Abraham Alfonse Albert Galla- 
tin. The name Abraham he received from his 
grandfather, but it was early dropped, and he was 
always known by his matronymic Albert. The 
Gallatin family held great influence in the Swiss 
Republic, and from the organization of the state 
contributed numerous members to its magistracy ; 
others adopted the military profession, and served 
after the manner of their country in the Swiss 
contingents of foreign armies. The immediate 
relatives of Albert Gallatin were concerned in 
trade. Abraham, his grandfather, and Jean, his 
father, were partners. The latter dying in 1765, 
his widow assumed his share in the business. She 
died in March, 1770, leaving two children, — Al- 
bert, then nine years of age, and an invalid daugh- 
ter who died a few years later. The loss to the 
orphan boy was lessened, if not compensated, by 
the care of a maiden lady — Mademoiselle Pictet 
— who had taken him into her charge at his 
father's death. This lady, whose affection never 
failed him, was the intimate friend of his mother 
as well as a distant relative of his father. Young 
Gallatin remained in this kind care until January, 
1773, when he was sent to a boarding-school, and 
in August, 1775, to the academy of Geneva, from 
which he was graduated in May, 1779. The ex- 
penses of his education were in great part met by 
the trustees of the Bourse Gallatin, — a sum left 
in 1699 by a member of the family, of which the 



EARLY LIFE. 3 

income was to be applied to its necessities. The 
course of study at the academy was confined to 
Latin and Greek. These were taught, to use the 
words of Mr. Gallatin, " Latin thoroughly, Greek 
much neglected." Fortunately his preliminary 
home training had been careful, and he left the 
academy the first in his class in mathematics, natu- 
ral philosophy, and Latin translation. French, a 
language in general use at Geneva, was of course 
familiar to him. English he also studied. He is 
not credited with special proficiency in history, 
but his teacher in this branch was Muller, the dis- 
tinguished historian, and the groundwork of hia 
information was solid. No American statesman 
has shown more accurate knowledge of the facta 
of history, or a more profound insight into its phi- 
losophy, than Mr. Gallatin. 

Education, however, is not confined to instruc. 
tion, nor is the influence of an academy to b^ 
measured by the extent of its curriculum, or thfe 
proficiency of its students, but rather by its general 
tone, moral and intellectual. The Calvinism oX 
Geneva, narrow in its religious sense, was friendly 
to the spread of knowledge ; and had this not beeik 
the case, the side influences of Roman Catholicism 
on the one hand, and the liberal spirit of the age 
on the other, would have tempered its exclusive 
tendency. 

While the academy seems to have sent out few 
men of extraordinary eminence, its influence upon 



4 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

society was happy. Geneva was the resort of dis- 
tinguished foreigners. Princes and nobles from 
Germany and the north of Europe, lords and gentle- 
men from England, and numerous Americans went 
thither to finish their education. Of these Mr. 
Gallatin has left mention of Francis Kinloch and 
William Smith, who later represented South Caro- 
lina in the Congress of the United States ; Smith 
was afterwards Minister to Portugal; Colonel 
Laurens, son of the President of Congress, and 
special envoy to France during the war of the 
American Revolution ; the two Penns, proprietors 
of Pennsylvania ; Franklin Bache, grandson of Dr. 
Franklin ; and young Johannot, grandson of Dr. 
Cooper of Boston. Yet no one of these followed 
the academical course. To use again the words 
of Mr. Gallatin, " It was the Geneva society which 
they cultivated, aided by private teachers in every 
branch, with whom Geneva was abundantly sup- 
plied." " By that influence," he says, he was him- 
self " surrounded, and derived more benefit from 
that source than from attendance on academical 
lectures." Considered in its higher sense, edu- 
cation is quite as much a matter of association as 
of scholarly acquirement. The influence of the 
companion is as strong and enduring as that of 
the master. Of this truth the career of young 
Gallatin is a notable example. During his aca- 
demic course he formed ties of intimate friendship 
with three of his associates. These were Henri 



EARLY LIFE. 5 

Serre, Jean Badollet, and Etienne Dumont. This 
attachment was maintained unimpaired through- 
out their lives, notwithstanding the widely dif- 
ferent stations which they subsequently filled. 
Serre and Badollet are only remembered from 
their connection with Gallatin. Dumont was 
of different mould. He was the friend of Mira- 
beau, the disciple and translator of Bentham, — 
a man of elegant acquirement, but, in the judg- 
ment of Gallatin, " without original genius." De 
Lolme was in the class above Gallatin. He had 
such facility in the acquisition of languages that 
he was able to write his famous work on the 
English Constitution after the residence of a sin- 
gle year in England. Pictet, Gallatin's relative, 
afterwards celebrated as a naturalist, excelled all 
his fellows in physical science. 

During his last year at the academy Gallatin 
was engaged in the tuition of a nephew of Ma- 
demoiselle Pictet, but the time soon arrived when 
he felt called upon to choose a career. His state 
was one of comparative dependence, and the small 
patrimony which he inherited would not pass to his 
control until he should reach his twenty-fifth year, 
" — the period assigned for his majority. It would 
be hardly just to say that he was ambitious. Per- 
sonal distinction was never an active motor in his 
life. Even his later honors, thick and fast though 
they fell, were rather thrust upon than sought by 
him. But his nature was proud and sensitive, 



6 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

and he chafed under personal control. The age 
was restless. The spirit of philosophic inquiry, no 
longer confined within scholastic limits, was spread- 
ing far and wide. From the banks of the Neva to 
the shores of the Mediterranean, the people of 
Europe were uneasy and expectant. Men every- 
where felt that the social system was threatened 
with a cataclysm. What would emerge from the 
general deluge none could foresee. Certainly, the 
last remains of the old feudality would be engulfed 
forever. Nowhere was this more thoroughly be- 
lieved than at the home of Rousseau. Under the 
shadow of the Alps, every breeze from which was 
free, the Genevese philosopher had written his 
" Contrat social," and invited the rulers and the 
ruled to a reorganization of their relations to 
each other and to the world. But nowhere, 
also, was the conservative opposition to the new 
theories more intense than here. The mind of 
young Gallatin was essentially philosophic. The 
studies in which he excelled in early life were in 
this direction, and at no time in his career did he 
display any emotional enthusiasm on subjects of 
general concern. But, on the other 'hand, he was 
unflinching in his adherence to abstract principle. 
Though not carried away by the extravagance of 
Rousseau, he was thoroughly discontented with 
the political state of Geneva. He was by early 
conviction a democrat in the broadest sense of 
the term. Indeed, it would be difficult to find 



EARLY LIFE. 7 

a more perfect example of what it was then the 
fashion to call a citoyen du monde. His family- 
seem, on the contrary, to have been always con- 
servative, and attached to the aristocratic and oli- 
garchic system to which they had, for centuries, 
owed their position and advancement. 

Abraham Gallatin, his grandfather, lived at 
Pregny on the northern shore of the lake, in close 
neighborhood to Ferney, the retreat of Voltaire. 
Susanne Vaudenet Gallatin, his grandmother, was 
a woman of the world, a lady of strong character, 
and the period was one when the influence of 
women was paramount in the affairs of men ; 
among her friends she counted Voltaire, with 
whom her husband and herself were on intimate 
relations, and Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Cas- 
sel, with whom she corresponded. So sincere was 
this latter attachment that the sovereign sent his 
portrait to her in 1776, an honor which, at her in- 
stance, Voltaire acknowledged in a verse charac- 
teristic of himself and of the time : — 

" J'ai baise ce portrait charmant, 
Je vous I'avourai sans mystere, 
Mes filles en ont fait autant, 
Mais c'est un secret qu'il faut taire. 
Vous trouverez bon qu'une mere 
Vous parle un peu plus hardiment, 
Et vous verrez qu'egalement, 
En tons les temps vous savez plaire." 

At Pregny young Gallatin was the constant 
guest of his nearest relatives on his father's side, 



8 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

and he was a frequent visitor at Ferney. Those 
whose fortune it has been to sit at the feet of Mr. 
Gallatin himself, in the serene atmosphere of his 
study, after his retirement from active participa- 
tion in public concerns, may well imagine the in- 
fluence which the rays of the prismatic character 
of Voltaire must have had upon the philosophic 
and receptive mind of the young student. 

There was and still is a solidarity in European 
families which can scarcely be said to have ever 
had a counterpart in those of England, and of 
which hardly a vestige remains in American social 
life. The fate of each member was a matter of 
interest to all, and the honor of the name was 
of common concern. Among the Gallatins, the 
grandmother, Madame Gallatin- Vaudenet, as she 
was called, appears to have been the controlling 
spirit. To her the profession of the youthful 
scion of the stock was a matter of family conse- 
quence, and she had already marked out his fu- 
ture course. The Gallatins, as has been already 
stated, had acquired honor in the military service 
of foreign princes. Her friend, the Landgrave of 
Hesse, was engaged in supporting the uncertain 
fortunes of the British army in America with a 
large military contingent, and she had only to ask 
to obtain for her grandson the high commission 
of lieutenant-colonel of one of the regiments of 
Hessian mercenaries. To the offer made to young 
Gallatin, and urged with due authority, he re- 



EARLY LIFE. 9 

plied, that " he would never serve a tyrant ; " a 
want of respect which was answered by a cuff on 
the ear. This incident determined his career. 
Whether it crystallized long cherished fancies into 
sudden action, or whether it was of itself the in- 
itial cause of his resolve, is now mere matter 
of conjecture ; probably the former. The three 
friends, Gallatin, Badollet, and Serre seem to have 
amused their leisure in planning an ideal exist- 
ence in some wilderness. America offered a bound- 
less field for the realization of such dreams, and 
the spice of adventure could be had for the seek- 
ing. Here was the forest primeval in its original 
grandeur. Here the Indian roamed undisputed 
master ; not the tutored Huron of Voltaire's tale, 
but the savage of torch and tomahawk. The 
continent was as yet unexplored. In uncertainty 
as to motives for man's action the French magis- 
trate always searches for the woman, " cherchez la 
femme ? " One single allusion in a letter writ- 
ten to Badollet, in 1783, shows that there was a 
woman in Gallatin's horoscope. Who she was, 
what her relation to him, or what influence she 
had upon his actions, nowhere appears. He only 
says that besides Mademoiselle Pictet there was 
one friend, " une amie," at Geneva, from whom a 
permanent separation would be hard. 

Confiding his purpose to his friend Serre, Gal- 
latin easily persuaded this ardent youth to join 
him in his venturesome journey, and on April 1, 



10 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

1780, the two secretly left Geneva. It certainly 
was no burning desire to aid the Americans in 
their struggle for independence, such as had 
stirred the generous soul of Lafayette, that 
prompted this act. In later life he repeatedly 
disclaimed any such motive. It was rather a long- 
ing for personal independence, for freedom from 
• the trammels of a society in which he had little 
faith or interest. Nor were his political opinions 
at this time matured. He had a just pride in the 
) a tt I O S^iss Republic as a free State (Etat libre), and 
y^ his personal bias was towards the " Negatif " 

party, as those were called who maintained the 
authority of the Upper Council (Petit Conseil) 
to reject the demands of the people. To this 
oligarchic party his family belonged. In a letter 
written three years later, he confesses that he was 
" Negatif " when he abandoned his home, and 
conveys the idea that his emigration was an ex- 
periment, a search for a system of government in 
accordance with his abstract notions of natural 
justice and political right. To use his own words, 
he came to America to " drink in a love for inde- 
pendence in the freest country of the universe. 
But there was some method in this madness. The 
rash scheme of emigration had a practical side ; 
land speculation and commerce were to be the 
foundation and support of the settlement in the 
wilderness where they would realize their political 
Utopia. 



EARLY YEARS. 11 

From Geneva the young adventurers hurried to 
Nantes, on the coast of France, where Gallatin 
soon received letters from his family, who seem to 
have neglected nothing that could contribute to 
their comfort or advantage. Monsieur P. M. Gal- 
latin, the guardian of Albert, a distant relative in 
an elder branch of the family, addressed him a 
letter which, in its moderation, dignity, and kind- 
ness, is a model of well-tempered severity and 
reproach. It expressed the pain Mademoiselle 
Pictet had felt at his unceremonious departure, 
and his own affliction at the ingratitude of one to 
whom he had never refused a request. Finally, 
as the trustee of his estate till his majority, the 
guardian assures the errant youth that he will aid 
him with pecuniary resources as far as possible, 
without infringing upon the capital, and within the 
sworn obligation of his trust. Letters of recom- 
mendation to distinguished Americans were also 
forwarded, and in these it is found, to the high 
credit of the family, that no distinction was made 
between the two young men, although Serre 
seems to have been considered as the origina- 
tor of the bold move. The intervention of the 
Duke de la Rochefoucauld d'Enville was solicited, 
and a letter was obtained by him from Benjamin 
Franklin — then American Minister at the Court 
of Versailles — to his son-in-law, Richard Bache. 
Lady Juliana Penn wrote in their behalf to John 
Penn at Philadelphia, and Mademoiselle Pictet 



12 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

to Colonel Kinloch, member of the Continental 
Congress from South Carolina. Thus supported 
in their undertaking the youthful travellers sailed 
from L' Orient on May 27, in an American ves- 
sel, the Kattie, Captain Loring. Of the sum 
which Gallatin, who supplied the capital for the 
expedition, brought from Geneva, one half had 
been expended in their land journey and the 
payment of the passages to Boston ; one half, 
eighty louis d'or — the equivalent of four hun- 
dred silver dollars — remained, part of which they 
invested in tea. Reaching the American coast in 
a fog, or bad weather, they were landed at Cape 
Ann on July 14. From Gloucester they rode the 
next day to Boston on horseback, a distance of 
thirty miles. Here they put up at a French caf^, 
" The Sign of the Alliance," in Fore Street, kept 
by one Tahon, and began to consider what step 
they should next take in the new world. 

The prospects were not encouraging ; the mili- 
tary fortunes of the struggling nation were never 
at a lower ebb than during the summer which 
intervened between the disaster of Camden and 
the discovery of Arnold's treason. Washington's 
army lay at New Windsor in enforced inactivity ; 
enlistments were few, and the currency was al- 
most worthless. Such was the stagnation in trade, 
that the young strangers found it extremely diffi- 
cult to dispose of their little venture in tea. Two 
months were passed at the cafe, in waiting for an 



EARLY LIFE. 13 

opportunity to go to Philadelphia, where Congress 
was in session, and where they expected to find the 
influential persons to whom they were accredited ; 
also letters from Geneva. But this journey was no 
easy matter. The usual routes of travel were in- 
terrupted. New York was the fortified headquar- 
ters of the British army, and the Middle States 
were only to be reached by a detour through the 
American lines above the Highlands and behind 
the Jersey Hills. 

The home-sick youths found little to amuse or 
interest them in Boston, and grew very weary of 
its monotonous life and Puritanical tone. They 
missed the public amusements to which they were 
accustomed in their own country, and complained 
of the superstitious observance of Sunday, when 
" singing, fiddling, card-playing and bowling were 
forbidden." Foreigners were not welcome guests 
in this town of prejudice. The sailors of the 
French fleet had already been the cause of one 
riot. Gallatin's letters show that this aversion 
was fully reciprocated by him. 

The neighboring country had some points of 
interest. No Swiss ever saw a hill without an 
intense desire to get to its top. They soon felt 
the magnetic attraction of the Blue Hills of Mil- 
ton, and, descrying from their summit the distant 
mountains north of Worcester, made a pedestrian 
excursion thither the following day. Mr. Gallatin 
was wont to relate with glee an incident of this 



14 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

trip, which Mr. John Russell Bartlett repeats in 
his " Reminiscences." 

" The tavern at which he stopped on his journey was 
kept by a man who partook in a considerable degree of 
the curiosity even now-a-days manifested by some land- 
lords in the back parts of New England to know the 
whole history of their guests. Noticing Mr. Gallatin's 
French accent he said, 'Just from France, eh! You 
are a Frenchman, I suppose.' ' No ! ' said Mr. Gal- 
latin, 'I am not from France.' 'You can't be from 
England, I am sure ? ' ' No ! ' was the reply. ' From 
Spain?' 'No!' 'From Germany?' 'No!' 'Well 
where on earth are you from then, or what are you ? * 
eagerly asked the inquisitive landlord. ' I am a Swiss,' 
replied Mr. Gallatin. ' Swiss, Swiss, Swiss ! ' exclaimed 
the landlord, in astonishment. ' Which of the ten tribes 
are the Swiss ? ' " 

Nor was this an unnatural remark. At this 
time Mr. Gallatin did not speak English with 
facility, and indeed was never free from a foreign 
accent. 

At the little cafe they met a Swiss woman, the 
wife of a Genevan, one De Lesdernier, who had 
been for thirty years established in Nova Scotia, 
but, becoming compromised in the attempt to 
revolutionize the colony, was compelled to fly to 
New England, and had settled at Macbias, on the 
northeastern extremity of the Maine frontier. 
Tempted by her account of this region, and per- 
haps making a virtue of necessity, Gallatin and 



EARLY LIFE. 15 

Serre bartered their tea for rum, sugar, and to- 
bacco, and, investing the remainder of their petty- 
capital in similar merchandise, they embarked 
October 1, 1780, upon a small coasting vessel, 
which, after a long and somewhat perilous pas- 
sage, reached the mouth of the Machias River on 
the 15th of the same month. Machias was then a 
little settlement five miles from the mouth of the 
stream of the same name. It consisted of about 
twenty houses and a small fortification, mounting 
seven guns and garrisoned by fifteen or twenty- 
men. The young travellers were warmly received 
by the son of Lesdernier, and made their home 
under his roof. This seems to have been one 
of the four or five log-houses in a large clear- 
ing near the fort. Gallatin attempted to settle a 
lot of land, and the meadow where he cut the hay 
with his own hands is still pointed out. This is 
Frost's meadow in Perry, not far from the site of 
the Indian village. A single cow was the begin- 
ning of a farm, but the main occupation of the 
young men was wood-cutting. No record remains 
of the result of the merchandise venture. The 
trade of Machias was wholly in fish, lumber, and 
furs, which, there being no money, the settlers 
were ready enough to barter for West India goods. 
But the outlet for the product of the country was, 
in its unsettled condition, uncertain and precari- 
ous, and the young traders were no better off than 
before. One transaction only is remembered, the 



16 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

advance by Gallatin to the garrison of supplies to 
the value of four hundred dollars ; for this he took 
a draft on the state treasury of Massachusetts, 
which, there being no funds for its payment, he 
sold at one fourth of its face value. 

The life, rude as it was, was not without its 
charms. Serre seems to have abandoned himself 
to its fascination without a regret. His descrip- 
tive letters to Badollet read like the Idylls of a 
Faun. Those of Gallatin, though more tempered 
in tone, reveal quiet content with the simple life 
and a thorough enjoyment of nature in its original 
wildness. In the summer they followed the tracks 
of the moose and deer through the primitive for- 
ests, and explored the streams and lakes in the 
light birch canoe, with a woodsman or savage for 
their guide. In the winter they made long jour- 
neys over land and water on snow-shoes or on 
skates, occasionally visiting the villages of the 
Indians, with whom the Lesderniers were on the 
best of terms, studying their habits and witness- 
ing their feasts. Occasional expeditions of a dif- 
ferent nature gave zest and excitement to this 
rustic life. These occurred when alarms of Eng- 
lish invasion reached the settlement, and volun- 
teers marched to the defence of the frontier. 
Twice Gallatin accompanied such parties to Pas- 
samaquoddy, and once, in November, 1780, was left 
for a time in command of a small earth-work and 
a temporary garrison of whites and Indians at 



EARLY LIFE. 17 

that place. At Machias Gallatin made one ac- 
quaintance which greatly interested him, that of 
La P^rouse, the famous navigator. He was then 
in command of the Amazone frigate, one of the 
French squadron on the American coast, and had 
in convoy a fleet of fishing vessels on their way to 
the Newfoundland banks. Gallatin had an in- 
tense fondness for geography, and was delighted 
with La P^rouse's narrative of his visit to Hud- 
son's Bay, and of his discovery there (at Fort 
Albany, which he captured) of the manuscript 
journal of Samuel Hearne, who some years before 
had made a voyage to the Arctic regions in search 
of a northwest passage. Gallatin and La Perouse 
met subsequently in Boston. 

The winter of 1780-81 was passed in the cabin 
of the Lesderniers. The excessive cold does not 
seem to have chilled Serre's enthusiasm. Like the 
faun of Hawthorne's mythical tale, he loved Na- 
ture in all her moods, but Gallatin appears to have 
wearied of the confinement and of his uncongenial 
companions. The trading experiment was aban- 
doned in the fall, and with some experience, but a 
reduced purse, the friends returned in October to 
Boston, where Gallatin set to work to support him- 
self by giving lessons in the French language. 
What success he met with at first is not known, 
though the visits of the French fleet and the pres- 
ence of its officers may have awakened some inter- 
est in their language. However this may be, in 



18 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

December Gallatin wrote to his good friend, 
Mademoiselle Pictet, a frank account of his em- 
barrassments. Before it reached her, she had al- 
ready, with her wonted forethought, anticipated 
his difficulties by providing for a payment of 
money to him wherever he might be, and bad also 
secured for him the interest of Dr. Samuel Cooper, 
whose grandson, young Johannot, was then at 
school in Geneva. Dr. Cooper was one of the 
most distinguished of the patriots in Boston, and 
no better influence could have been invoked than 
his. In July, 1782, by a formal vote of the Presi- 
dent and Fellows of Harvard College, Mr. Gal- 
latin was permitted to teach the French language. 
About seventy of the students availed themselves 
of the privilege. Mr. Gallatin received about 
three hundred dollars in compensation. In this 
occupation he remained at Cambridge for about a 
year, at the expiration of which he took advantage 
of the close of the academic course to withdraw 
from his charge, receiving at his departure a cer- 
tificate from the Faculty that he had acquitted 
himself in his department with great reputation. 

The war was over, the army of the United 
States was disbanded, and the country was pre- 
paring for the new order which the peace would 
introduce into the habits and occupations of the 
people. The long-sought opportunity at last pre- 
sented itself, and Mr. Gallatin at once embraced 
it. He left Boston without regret. He had done 



EARLY LIFE. 19 

his duty faithfully, and secured the approbation 
and esteem of all with whom he had come in con- 
tact, but there is no evidence that he cared for or 
sought social relations either in the city or at the 
college. Journeying southward he passed through 
Providence, where he took sail for New York. 
Stopping for an hour at Newport for dinner, he 
reached New York on July 21. The same day 
the frigate Mercury arrived from England with 
news of the signature of the definitive treaty of 
peace. He was delighted with the beauty of the 
country-seats above the city, the vast port with 
its abundant shipping, and with the prospect of 
a theatrical entertainment. The British soldiers 
and sailors, who were still in possession, he found 
rude and insolent, but the returning refugees civil 
and honest people. At Boston Gallatin made the 
acquaintance of a French gentleman, one Savary 
de Valcoulon, who had crossed the Atlantic to 
prosecute in person certain claims against the 
State of Virginia for advances made by his house 
in Lyons during the war. He accompanied Gal- 
latin to New York, and together they travelled 
to Philadelphia ; Savary, who spoke no English, 
gladly attaching to himself as his companion a 
young man of the ability and character of Gal- 
latin. At Philadelphia Gallatin was soon after 
joined by Serre, who had remained behind, en- 
gaged also in giving instruction. The meeting 
at Philadelphia seems to have been the occasion 



20 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

for the dissolution of a partnership in which Gal- 
latin had placed his money, and Serre his enthu- 
siasm and personal charm. A settlement was 
made ; Serre giving his note to Gallatin for the 
sum of six hundred dollars, — one half of their 
joint expenses for three years, — an obligation 
which was repaid more than half a century later 
by his sister. Serre then joined a fellow-country- 
man and went to Jamaica, where he died in 1784. 
At Philadelphia Gallatin and Savary lodged in a 
house kept by one Mary Lynn. Pelatiah Web- 
ster, the political economist, who owned the house, 
was also a boarder. Later he said of his fellow- 
lodgers that " they were well-bred gentlemen who 
passed their time conversing in French." Gal- 
latin, at the end of his resources, gladly acceded 
to Savary's request to accompany him to Rich- 
mond. 

Whatever hesitation Gallatin may have enter- 
tained as to his definitive expatriation was entirely 
set at rest by the news of strife between the rival 
factions in Geneva and the interposition of armed 
force by the neighboring governments. This inter- 
ference turned the scale against the liberal party. 
Mademoiselle Pictet was the only link which bound 
him to his family. For his ingratitude to her 'he 
constantly reproached himself. He still styled him- 
self a citizen of Geneva, but this was only as a 
matter of convenience and security to his corre. 
spondence. His determination to make America 



EARLY LIFE. 21 

his home was now fixed. The lands on the banks 
of the Ohio were then considered the most fertile 
in America, — the best for farming purposes, the 
cultivation of grain, and the raising of cattle. The 
first settlement in this region was made by the 
Ohio Company, an association formed in Virginia 
and London, about the middle of the century, by 
Thomas Lee, together with Lawrence and Augus- 
tine, brothers of George Washington. The lands 
laid on the south side of the Ohio, between the 
Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. These lands 
were known as '* Washington's bottom lands." In 
this neighborhood Gallatin determined to purchase 
two or three thousand acres, and prepare for that 
ideal country home which had been the dream 
of his college days. Land here was worth from 
thirty cents to four dollars an acre. His first pur- 
chase was about one thousand acres, for which he 
paid one hundred pounds, Virginia currency. Land 
speculation was the fever of the time. S a vary was 
early affected by it, and before the new friends left 
Philadelphia for Richmond he bought warrants for 
one hundred and twenty thousand acres in Vir- 
ginia, in Monongalia County, between the Great 
and Little Kanawha rivers, and interested Gal- 
latin to the extent of one quarter in the purchase. 
Soon after the completion of this transaction the 
sale of some small portions reimbursed them for 
three fourths of the original cost. This was the 
first time when, and Savary was the first person to 



22 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

whom, Gallatin- was willing to incur a pecuniary- 
obligation. It was arranged that Gallatin's part of 
the purchase-money was not to be paid until his 
majority, — January 29, 1786, — but in the mean 
while he was, in lieu of interest money, to give 
his services in personal superintendence. Later 
Savary increased Gallatin's interest to one half. 
Soon after these plans were completed, Savary and 
Gallatin moved to Richmond, where they made 
their residence. In February, 1784, Gallatin re- 
turned to Philadelphia, perfected the arrangements 
for his expedition, and in March crossed the moun- 
tains, and, with his exploring party, passed down 
the Ohio River to Monongalia County in Virginia. 
The superior advantages of the country north of 
the Virginia line determined him to establish his 
headquarters there. He selected the farm of 
Thomas Clare, at the junction of the Monon- 
gahela River and George's Creek. This was in 
Fayette County, Pennsylvania, about four miles 
north of the Virginia line. Here he built a log 
hut, opened a country store, and remained till the 
close of the year. It was while thus engaged at 
George's Creek, in September of the year 1784, 
that Gallatin first met General Washington, who 
was examining the country, in which he had large 
landed interests, to select a route for a road across 
the Alleghanies. The story of the interview was 
first made public by Mr. John Russell Bartlett, 
who had it from the lips of Mr. Gallatin. The 



EARLY LIFE. 23 

version of the late Hon. William Beach Lawrence, 
in a paper prepared for the New York Histori- 
cal Society, differs slightly in immaterial points. 
Mr. Lawrence says : — 

" Among the incidents connected with his (Mr. Gal- 
latin's) earliest explorations was an interview with Gen- 
eral Washington, which he repeatedly recounted to noie. 
He had previously observed that of all the inaccessible 
men he had ever seen, General Washington was the 
most so. And this remark he made late in life, after 
having been conversant with most of the sovereigns of 
Europe and their prime ministers. He said, in connec- 
tion with his office, he had a cot-bed in the office of the 
surveyor of the district when Washington, who had lands 
in the neighborhood, and was desirous of effecting com- 
munication between the rivers, came there. Mr. Gal- 
latin's bed was given up to him, — Gallatin lying on 
the floor, immediately below the table at which Washing- 
ton was writing. Washington was endeavoring to re- 
duce to paper the calculations of the day. Gallatin, 
hearing the statement, came at once to the conclusion, 
and, after waiting some time, he himself gave the answer, 
which drew from Washington such a look as he never 
experienced before or since. On arriving by a slow 
process at his conclusion, Washington turned to Gal- 
latin and said, ' You are right, young man.' " 

The points of difference between the two ac- 
counts of this interview are of little importance. 
The look which Washington is said to have given 
Mr. Gallatin has its counterpart in that with which 
he is also said to have turned upon Gouverneur 



24 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Morris, when accosted by him familiarly with a 
touch on the shoulder. Bartlett, in his recollec- 
tion of the anecdote, adds that Washington, about 
this period, inquired after the forward young man, 
and urged him to become his land agent, — an of- 
fer which Gallatin declined. 

The winter of 1784-85 was passed in Rich^ 
mond, in the society of which town Mr. Gallatin 
began to find a relief and pleasure he had not yet 
experienced in America. At this period the Vir- 
ginia capital was the gayest city in the Union, and 
famous for its abundant hospitality, rather facile 
manners, and the liberal tendency of its religious 
thought. Gallatin brought no prudishness and 
no orthodoxy in his Genevese baggage. One of 
the last acts of his life was to recognize in grace- 
ful and touching words the kindness he then met 
with : — 

" I was received with that old proverbial Virginia hos- 
pitality to which I know no parallel anywhere within 
the circle of my travels. It was not hospitality only 
that was shown to me. I do not know how it came to 
pass, but every one with whom I became acquainted 
appeared to take an interest in the young stranger. I 
was only the interpreter of a gentleman, the agent of 
a foreign house, that had a large claim for advances to 
the State, and this made me known to all the officers of 
government, and some of the most prominent members 
of the Legislature. It gave me the first opportunity of 
showing some symptoms of talent, even as a speaker, 



EARLY LIFE. 25 

of which I was not myself aware. Every one encour- 
aged me, and was disposed to promote my success in life. 
To name all those from whom I received offers of ser- 
vice would be to name all the most distinguished resi- 
dents at that time in Richmond." 

In the spring of 1785, fortified with a certificate 
from Governor Patrick Henry, commending him 
to the county surveyor, and intrusted by Henry 
with the duty of locating two thousand acres of 
lands in the western country for a third party, he 
set out from Richmond, on March 31, alone, on 
horseback. Following the course of the James 
River he crossed the Blue Ridge at the Peaks of 
Otter, and reached Greenbrier Court House on 
April 18. On the .29th he arrived at Clare's, on 
George's Creek, where he was joined by Savary. 
Their surveying operations were soon begun, each 
taking a separate course. An Indian rising broke 
up the operations of Savary, and both parties re- 
turned to Clare's. Gallatin appeared before the 
court of Monongalia County, at its October term, 
and took the " oath of allegiance and fidelity to 
the Commonwealth of Virginia." Clare's, his act- 
ual residence, was north of the Virginia line, but 
his affections were with the old Dominion. In 
November the partners hired from Clare a house 
at George's Creek, in Springfield township, and 
established their residence, after which they re- 
turned to Richmond by way of Cumberland and 
the Potomac. In February, 1786, Gallatin made 
his permanent abode at his new home. 



26 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Mention has been made of the intimacy of the 
young emigrants with Jean Badollet, a college 
companion. When they left Geneva he was en- 
gaged in the study of theology, and was now a 
teacher. He was included in the original plan of 
emigration, and the first letters of both Gallatin 
and Serre, who had for him an equal attach- 
ment, were to him, and year by year, through all 
the vicissitudes of their fortune, they kept him 
carefully informed of their movements and proj- 
ects. For two years after their departure no 
word was received from him. At last, spurred 
by the sharp reproaches of Serre, he broke silence. 
In a letter written in March, 1783, informing 
Gallatin of the troubles in Switzerland, he excused 
himself on the plea that their common friend, 
Dumont, retained him at Geneva. In answer, 
Gallatin opened his plans of western settlement, 
which included the employment of his fortune in 
the establishment of a number of families upon 
his lands. He suggested to Badollet to bring with 
him the little money he had, to which enough 
would be added to establish him independently. 
Dumont was invited to accompany him. But 
with a prudence which shows that his previous 
experience had not been thrown away upon him, 
Gallatin recommends his friend not to start at 
once, but to hold himself ready for the next, or, 
at the latest, the year succeeding, at the same 
time suggesting the idea of a general emigration 



EARLY LIFE. 27 

of such Swiss malcontents as were small capi- 
talists and farmers; that of manufacturers and 
workmen he discouraged. It was not, however, 
until the spring of 1785, on the eve of leaving 
Richmond with some families which he had en- 
gaged to establish on his lands, that he felt justi- 
fied in asking his old friend to cross the seas and 
share his lot. This invitation was accepted, and 
BadoUet joined him at George's Creek. 

The settlement beginning to spread, Gallatin 
bought another farm higher up the river, to which 
he gave the name of Friendship Hill. Here he 
later made his home. 

The western part of Pennsylvania, embracing 
the area which stretches from the Alleghany 
Mountains to Lake Erie, is celebrated for the 
wild, picturesque beauty of its scenery. Among 
its wooded hills the head-waters of the Ohio have 
their source. At Fort Duquesne, or Pittsburgh, 
where the river takes a sudden northerly bend 
before finally settling in swelling volume on its 
southwesterly course to the Mississippi, the Mo- 
nongahela adds its mountain current, which sepa- 
rates in its entire course from the Virginia line 
the two counties of Fayette and Washington. 
The Monongahela takes its rise in Monongalia 
County, Virginia, and flows to the northward. 
Friendship Hill is one of the bluffs on the right 
bank of the river, and faces the Laurel Ridge to 
the eastward. Braddock's Road, now the National 



28 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Road, crosses the mountains, passing through 
Uniontown and Red Stone Old Fort (Browns- 
ville), on its course to Pittsburgh. The county 
seat of Fayette is the borough of Union or Union- 
town. Gallatin's log-cabin, the beginning of New 
Geneva, was on the right bank of the Mononga- 
hela, about twelve miles to the westward of the 
county seat. Opposite, on the other side of the 
river, in Washington County, was Greensburg, 
where his friend Badollet was later established. 

Again for a long period Gallatin left his family 
without any word whatever. His most indul- 
gent friend. Mademoiselle Pictet, could hardly ex- 
cuse his silence, and did not hesitate to charge 
that it was due to misfortunes which his pride 
prompted him to conceal. In the early days of 
1786 a rumor of his death reached Geneva, and 
greatly alarmed his family. Mr* Jefferson, then 
Minister at Paris, wrote to Mr. Jay for infor- 
mation. ^ Meanwhile Gallatin had attained his 
twenty-fifth year and his majority. His family 
were no longer left in doubt as to his existence, 
and in response to his letters drafts were at once 
remitted to him for the sum of five thousand dol- 
lars, through the banking-house of Robert Morris. 
This was, of course, immediately applied to his 
western experiment. The business of the part- 

1 This was Jefferson's first knowledge of the existence of the 
young man who was to become his political associate, his philo 
Sophie companion, and his truest friend. 



EARLY LIFE. 29 

nership now called for his constant attention. It 
required the exercise of a great variety of mental 
powers, a cool and discriminating judgment, com- 
bined with an incessant attention to details. Na- 
ture, under such circumstances, is not so attractive 
as she appears in youthful dreams ; admirable in 
her original garb, she is annoying and obstinate 
when disturbed. The view of country which 
Friendship Hill commands is said to rival Switz- 
erland in its picturesque beauty, but years later, 
when the romance of the Monongahela hills had 
faded in the actualities of life, Gallatin wrote of 
it that '' he did not know in the United States 
any spot which afforded less means to earn a bare 
subsistence for those who could not live by manual 
labor." 

Gallatin has been blamed for " taking life awry 
and throwing away the advantages of education, 
social position, and natural intelligence," by his 
removal to the frontier, and his career is com- 
pared with that of Hamilton and Dallas, who, 
like him, foreign born, rose to eminence in poli- 
tics, and became secretaries of the Treasury of 
the United States. But both of these were of 
English - speaking races. No foreigner of any 
other race obtained such distinction in American 
politics as Mr. Gallatin, and he only because 
he was the choice of a constituency, to every 
member of which he was personally known. It 
is questionable whether in any other condition of 



30 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

society he could have secured advancement by 
election — the true source of political power in 
all democracies. John Marshall, afterwards Chief 
Justice, recognized Gallatin's talent soon after his 
arrival in Richmond, offered him a place in his 
office without a fee, and assured him of future dis- 
tinction in the profession of the law ; but Patrick 
Henry was the more sagacious counsellor ; he ad- 
vised Gallatin to go to the West, and predicted his 
success as a statesman. Modest as the beginning 
seemed in the country he had chosen, it was never- 
theless a start in the right direction, as the future 
showed. It was in no sense a mistake. 

Neither did the affairs of the wilderness wholly 
debar intercourse with the civilized world. Visiting 
Richmond every winter, he gradually extended the 
circle of his acquaintance, and increased his per- 
sonal influence ; he also occasionally passed a few 
weeks at Philadelphia. Two visits to Maine are 
recorded in his diary, but whether they were of 
pleasure merely does not appear. One was in 
1788, in midwinter, by stage and sleigh. On this 
excursion he descended the Androscoggin and 
crossed Merrymeeting Bay on the ice, returning 
by the same route in a snow-storm, which con- 
cealed the banks on either side of the river, so 
that he governed his course by the direction of the 
wind. With the intellect of a prime minister he 
had the constitution of a pioneer. On one of these 
occasions he intended to visit his old friends and 



EARLY LIFE. 31 

hosts, the Lesderniers, but the diflSculty of finding 
a conveyance, and the rumor that the old gentle^ 
man was away from home, interfered with his 
purpose. He remembered their kindness, and 
later attempted to obtain pensions for them from 
the United States government. 

But the time now arrived when the current of 
his domestic life was permanently diverted, and 
set in other channels. In May, 1789, he married 
Sophie Allegre, the daughter of William All^gre, 
of a French Protestant family living at Richmond. 
The father was dead, and the mother took lodgers, 
of whom Gallatin was one. For more than a year 
he had addressed her and secured her affections. 
Her mother now refused her consent, and no 
choice was left to the young lovers but to marry 
without it.^ They passed a few happy months at 
Friendship_Uill, when suddenly;^ she died. From 
this time Mr. Gallatin lost all heart in the west- 
ern venture, and his most earnest wish was to turn 
his back forever upon Fayette County. In his 
suffering he would have returned to Geneva to 
Mademoiselle Pictet, could he have sold his Vir- 
ginia lands. But this had become impossible at 
any price, and he had no other pecuniary resource 
but the generosity of his family. 

1 Little is known of this short but touching episode in Mr. Gal- 
latin's life. The young lady was warmly attached to him, and 
the letter written to her mother asking forgiveness for her mar- 
riage is charmingly expressed aad full of feeling. 



32 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Meanwhile the revolution had broken out in 
France. The rights of man had been proclaimed 
on the Champ de Mars. All Europe was uneasy 
and alarmed, and nowhere offered a propitious 
field for peaceful labor. But Gallatin did not 
long need other distraction than he was to find 
at home. 



CHAPTER II. 

PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 

Political revolutions are the opportunity of 
youth. In England, Pitt and Fox; in America, 
Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris ; in Europe, 
Napoleon and Pozzo di Borgo, before they reached 
their thirtieth year, helped to shape the political 
destiny of nations. The early maturity of Gal- 
latin was no less remarkable. In his voluminous 
correspondence there is no trace of youth. At 
nineteen his habits of thought were already formed, 
and his moral and intellectual tendencies were 
clearly marked in his character, and understood 
by himself. His tastes also were already devel- 
oped. His life, thereafter, was in every sense a 
growth. The germs of every excellence, which 
came to full fruition in his subsequent career, may 
be traced in the preferences of his academic days. 
From youth to age he was consistent with himself. 
His mind was of that rare and original order 
which, reasoning out its own conclusions, seldom 
has cause to change. 

His political opinions were early formed. A 
letter written by him in October, 1783, before he 
had completed his twenty-third year, shows the 

2 



34 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

maturity of his intellect, and his analytic habit 
of thought. An extract gives the nature of the 
reasons which finally determined him to make his 
home in America : — 

" This is what by degrees greatly influenced my judg- 
ment. After my arrival in this country I was early 
convinced, upon a comparison of American governments 
with that of Geneva, that the latter is founded on false 
principles ; that the judicial power, in civil as well as 
criminal cases, the executive power wholly, and two 
thirds of the legislative power being lodged in two bodies 
which are almost self-made, and the members of which 
are chosen for life, — it is hardly possible but that this 
formidable aristocracy should, sooner or later, destroy 
the equilibrium which it was supposed could be main- 
tained at Geneva." 

The period from the peace of 1783 to the adop- 
tion of the Federal Constitution in 1787 was one 
of political excitement. The utter failure of the 
old confederation to serve the purposes of national 
defence and safety for which it was framed had 
been painfully felt during the war. Independence 
had been achieved under it rather than by it, the 
patriotic action of some of the States supplying 
the deficiencies of others less able or less willing. 
By the radical inefl&ciency of the confederation 
the war had been protracted, its success repeatedly 
imperilled, and, at its close, the results gained by 
it were constantly menaced. The more perfect 
union which was the outcome of the deliberations 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 35 

of the Federal Convention was therefore joyfully 
accepted by the people at large. Indeed, it was 
popular pressure, and not the arguments of its 
advocates, that finally overcame the formidable 
opposition in and out of the convention to the 
Constitution. No written record remains of Mr. 
Gallatin's course during the sessions of the Federal 
Convention. He was not a member of the body, 
nor is his name connected with any public act, 
having any bearing upon its deliberations. Of 
the direction of his influence, however, there can 
be no doubt. He had an abiding distrust of strong 
government, — a dread of the ambitions of men. 
Precisely what form he would have substituted 
for the legislative and executive system adopted 
nowhere appears in his writings, but certainly 
neither president nor senate would have been in- 
cluded. They bore too close a resemblance to 
king and lords to win his approval, no matter 
how restricted their powers. He would evidently 
have leaned to a single house, with a temporary ex- 
ecutive directly appointed by itself ; or, if elected 
by the people, then for a short term of ofiice, with- 
out renewal ; and he would have reduced its legis- 
lative powers to the narrowest possible limit. The 
best government he held to be that which governs 
least ; and many of the ablest of that incomparable 
body of men, who welded this Union, held these 
views. But the yearning of the people was in 
the other direction. They felt the need of gov- 



36 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

eminent. They wanted the protection of a strong 
arm. It must not be forgotten that the thirteen 
colonies, which declared their independence in 
1776, were all sea-board communities, each with 
its port. They were all trading communities 
The East, with its fisheries and timber ; the 
Middle States, with their agricultural products 
and peltries ; the South, with its tobacco ; each 
saw, in that freedom from the restrictions of the 
English navigation laws which the treaty of 
peace secured, the promise of a boundless com- 
merce. To protect commerce there must be a 
national power somewhere. Since the peace the 
government had gained neither the affection of 
its own citizens nor the respect of foreign powers. 
The Federal Constitution was adopted Septem- 
ber 17, 1787. The first State to summon a con- 
vention of ratification was Pennsylvania. No one 
of the thirteen original States was more directly 
interested than herself. The centre of population 
lay somewhere in her limits, and there was rea- 
sonable ground for hope that Philadelphia would 
become once more the seat of government. The 
delegates met at Philadelphia on November 2. An 
opposition declared itself at the beginning of the 
proceedings. Regardless of the popular impatience, 
the majority allowed full scope to adverse argu- 
ment, and it was not until December 12 that the 
final vote was taken and the Constitution ratified, 
without recommendations, by a majority of two to 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 37 

one. In this body Fayette County was represented 
by Nicholas Breading and John Smilie. The lat- 
ter gentleman, of Scotch-Irish birth, an adroit de- 
bater, led the opposition. In the course of his 
criticisms he enunciated the doctrines which were 
soon to become a party cry ; the danger of the Con« 
stitution " in inviting rather than guarding against 
the approaches of tyranny;" "its tendency to a 
consolidation, not a confederation, of the States." 
Mr. Gallatin does not appear to have sought to 
be a delegate to this body, but his hand may be 
traced through the speeches of Smilie in the pre- 
cision with which the principles of the opposition 
were formulated and declared ; and his subsequent 
course plainly indicates that his influence was ex- 
erted in the interest of the dissatisfied minority. 
The ratification was received by the people with 
intense satisfaction, but the delay in debate lost 
the State the honor of precedence in the honorable 
vote of acquiescence, — the Delaware convention 
having taken the lead by a unanimous vote. For 
the moment the Pennsylvania Anti-Federalists 
clung to the hope that the Constitution might yet 
fail to receive the assent of the required number 
of States, but as one after another fell into line, 
this hope vanished. 

One bold expedient remained. The ratification 
of some of the States was coupled with the recom- 
mendation of certain amendments. Massachusetts 
led the way in this, Virginia followed, and New 



38 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

York, which, in the language of the day, became 
the eleventh pillar of the Federal edifice, on July 
26, 1788, accompanied her ratification with a circu- 
lar letter to the governors of all the States, rec- 
ommending that a general convention be called.^ 

The argument taken in this letter was the only 
one which had any chance of commending itself 
to popular favor. It was in these words : " that 
the apprehension and discontents which the ar- 
ticles occasion cannot be removed or allayed un- 
less an act to provide for the calling of a new 
convention be among the first that shall be passed 
by the next Congress." This document, made 
public at once, encouraged the Pennsylvania Anti- 
Federalists to a last effort to bring about a new 
convention, to undo or radically alter the work of 
the old. A conference held at Harrisburg, on 
September 3, 1788, was participated in by thirty- 
three gentlemen, from various sections of the 
State, who assembled in response to the call of a 
circular letter which originated in the county of 
Cumberland in the month of August. The city 
of Philadelphia and thirteen counties were rep- 
resented ; six of the dissenting members of the 
late convention were present, among whom was 
Smilie. He and Gallatin represented the county 
of Fayette. 

1 The drafting of this letter was, notwithstanding his protest, in. 
trusted to John Jay, one of the strongest of the Federal leaders^ 
and a warm supporter of the Constitution as it stood. 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 39 

Smilie, Gallatin's earliest political friend, was 
born in 1742, and was therefore about twenty- 
years his senior. He came to the United States in 
youth, and had grown up in the section he now rep- 
resented. His popularity is shown by his service 
in the state Legislature, and during twelve years 
in Congress as representative or as senator. In 
any estimate of Mr. Gallatin, this early influence 
must be taken into account. The friendship thus 
formed continued until Smilie's death in 1816. 
From the adviser he became the ardent supporter 
of Mr. Gallatin. Blair McClanachan, of Phila- 
delphia County, was elected chairman of the con- 
ference. The result of this deliberation was a 
report in the form of a series of resolutions, of 
which two drafts, both in Mr. Gallatin's hand- 
writing, are among his papers now in the keeping 
of the New York Historical Society. The origi- 
nal resolutions were broad in scope, and suggested 
a plan of action of a dual nature ; the one of which 
failing, resort could be had to the other without 
compromising the movement by delay. In a word 
it proposed an opposition by a party organization. 
The first resolution was adroitly framed to avoid 
the censure with which the people at large, whose 
satisfaction with the new Constitution had grown 
with the fresh adhesions of State after State to 
positive enthusiasm, would surely condemn any at- 
tempt to dissolve the Union formed under its 
provisions. This resolution declared that it was 



40 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

in order to prevent a dissolution of the Union and 
to secure liberty, that a revision was necessary. 
The second expressed the opinion of the confer- 
ence to be, that the safest manner to obtain such 
revision was to conform to the request of the State 
of New York, and to urge the calling of a new con- 
vention, and recommended that the Pennsylvania 
Legislature be petitioned to apply for that pur- 
pose to the new Congress. These were declar- 
atory. The third and fourth provided, first, for an 
organization of committees in the several counties 
to correspond with each other and with similar 
committees in other States ; secondly, invited the 
friends to amendments in the several States to 
meet in conference at a fixed time and place. 
This plan of committees of correspondence and 
of a meeting of delegates was simply a revival of 
the methods of the Sons of Liberty, from whose 
action sprung the first Continental Congress of 
1774. 

The formation of such an organization would 
surely have led to disturbance, perhaps to civil 
war. During the progress of the New York con- 
vention swords and bayonets had been drawn, and 
blood had been shed in the streets of Albany, 
where the Anti-Federalists excited popular rage 
by burning the new Constitution. But the 
thirty-three gentlemen who met at Harrisburg 
wisely tempered these resolutions to a moderate 
tone. Thus modified, they recommended, First, 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 41 

that the people of the State should acquiesce in 
the organization of the government, while holding 
in view the necessity of very considerable amend- 
ments and alterations essential to preserve the 
peace and harmony of the Union. Secondly, 
that a revision by general convention was neces- 
sary. Thirdly, that the Legislature should be re- 
quested to apply to Congress for that purpose. 
The petition recommended twelve amendments, 
selected from those already proposed by other 
States. These were of course restrictive. The 
report was made public in the " Pennsylvania 
Packet " of September 15. With this the agi- 
tation appears to have ceased. On September 
13 Congress notified the States by resolution to 
appoint electors under the provisions of the Con- 
stitution. The unanimous choice of Washington 
as President hushed all opposition, and for a 
time the Anti-Federalists sunk into insignificance. 
The persistent labors of the friends of revision 
were not without result. The amendments pro- 
posed by Virginia and New York were laid 
before the House of Representatives. Seventeen 
received the two thirds vote of the House. After 
conference with the Senate, in which Mr. Mad- 
ison appeared as manager for the House, these, 
reduced in number to twelve by elimination and 
compression, were adopted by the requisite two 
thirds vote, and transmitted to the Legislatures of 
the States for approval. Ratified by a sufl&cient 



42 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

number of States, they became a part of the Con- 
stitution. They were general, and declaratory of 
personal rights, and in no instance restrictive of 
the power of the general government. 

In 1789 the Assembly of Pennsylvania calling 
a convention to revise the Constitution of the 
State, Mr. Gallatin was sent as a delegate from 
Fayette County. To the purposes of this conven- 
tion he was opposed, as a dangerous precedent. 
He had endeavored to organize an opposition to it 
in the western counties, by correspondence with 
his political friends. His objections were the dan- 
gers of alterations in government, and the absurd- 
ity of the idea that the Constitution ever contem- 
plated a change by the will of a mere majority. 
Such a doctrine, once admitted, would enable not 
only the Legislature, but a majority of the more 
popular house, were two established, to make an- 
other appeal to the people on the first occasion, 
and, instead of establishing on solid foundations a 
new government, would open the door to perpet- 
ual change, and destroy that stability which is 
essential to the welfare of a nation ; since no con- 
stitution acquires the permanent affection of the 
people, save in proportion to its duration and age. 
Finally, such changes would sooner or later con- 
clude in an appeal to arms, — the true meaning of 
the popular and dangerous words, " an appeal to 
the people." The opposition was begun too late, 
however, to admit of combined effort, and was 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 43 

not persisted in ; and Mr. Gallatin himself, with 
practical good sense, consented to serve as a dele- 
gate. Throughout his political course the pride 
of mastery never controlled his actions. When 
debarred from leadership he did not sulk in his 
tent, but threw his weight in the direction of his 
principles. The convention met at Philadelphia 
on November 24, 1789, and closed its labors on 
September 2, 1790. This was Gallatin's appren- 
ticeship in the public service. Among his papers 
are a number of memoranda, some of them indi- 
cating much elaboration of speeches made, or in- 
tended to be made, in this body. One is an argu- 
ment in favor of enlarging the representation in 
the House ; another is against a plan of choosing 
senators by electors ; another concerns the liberty 
of the press. There is, further, a memorandum of 
his motion in regard to the right of suffrage, by 
virtue of which '' every freeman who has attained 
the age of twenty-one years, and been a resident 
and inhabitant during one year next before the 
day of election, every naturalized freeholder, every 
naturalized citizen who had been assessed for state 
or county taxes for two years before election day, 
or who had resided ten years successively in the 
State, should be entitled to the suffrage, paupers 
and vagabonds only being excluded." Certainly, 
in his conservative limitations upon suffrage, he 
did not consult his own interest as a large land- 
holder inviting settlement, nor pander to the nat- 
ural desires of his constituency. 



44 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

In an account of this convention, written at a 
later period, Mr. Gallatin said that it was the 
first public body to which he was elected, and that 
he took but a subordinate share in the debates ; 
that it was one of the ablest bodies of which he 
was ever a member, and with which he was ac- 
quainted, and, excepting Madison and Marshall, 
that it embraced as much talent and knowledge 
as any Congress from 1795 to 1812, beyond which 
his personal knowledge did not extend. Among 
its members were Thomas McKean, signer of the 
Declaration of Independence and president of the 
Continental Congress, Thomas Mifflin and Timo- 
thy Pickering, of the Revolutionary army, and 
Smilie and Findley, Gallatin's political friends. 
General Mifflin was its president. 

But mental distraction brought Mr. Gallatin no 
peace of heart at this period, and when the excite- 
ment of the winter was over he fell into a state 
of almost morbid melancholy. To his friend Ba- 
dollet he wrote from Philadelphia, early in March, 
that life in Fayette County had no more charms 
for him, and that he would gladly leave America. 
But his lands were unsalable at any price, and he 
saw no means of support at Geneva. Some one 
has said, with a profound knowledge of human 
nature, that no man is sure of happiness who has 
not the capacity for continuous labor of a disa- 
greeable kind. The occasional glimpses into Mr. 
Gallatin's inner nature, which his correspondence 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 45 

affords, show that up to this period he was not 
supposed by his friends or by himself to have this 
capacity. In the letter which his guardian wrote 
to him after his flight from home, he was re- 
proached with his "natural indolence." His good 
friend, Mademoiselle Pictet, accused him of being 
hard to please, and disposed to ennui ; and again, 
as late as 1787, repeats to him, in a tone of sorrow, 
the reports brought to her of his " continuance in 
his old habit of indolence," his indifference to so- 
ciety, his neglect of his dress, and general indiffer- 
ence to everything but study and reading, tastes 
which, she added, he might as well have cultivated 
at Geneva as in the New World ; and he himself, 
in the letter to Badollet just mentioned, considers 
that his habits and his laziness would prove insu- 
perable bars to his success in any profession in Eu- 
rope. In estimation of this self-condemnation, it 
must be borne in mind that the Genevans were in- 
tellectual Spartans. Gallatin must be measured 
by that high standard. But if the charge of indo- 
lence could have ever justly lain against Gallatin. 
— a charge which his intellectual vigor at twenty- 
seven seems to challenge, — it certainly could never 
have been sustained after he fairly entered on his 
political and public career. In October, 1790, he 
was elected by a two thirds majority to represent 
Fayette County in the Legislature of the State of 
Pennsylvania; James Findley was his colleague, 
John Smilie being advanced to the state Senate. 



46 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Mr. Gallatin was reelected to the Assembly in 
1791 and 1792, without opposition. 

Among his papers there is a memorandum of 
his legislative service during these three years, 
and a manuscript volume of extracts from the 
Journals of the House, from January 14, 1791, to 
December 17, 1794. They form part of the ex- 
tensive mass of documents and letters which were 
collected and partially arranged by himself, with 
a view to posthumous publication. Here is an 
extract from the memorandum : — 

" I acquired an extraordinary influence in that body 
[the Pennsylvania House of Representatives] ; the more 
remarkable as I was always in a party minority. I was 
indebted for it to my great industry and to the facility 
with which I could understand and carry on the current 
business. The laboring oar was left almost exclusively 
to me. In the session of 1791-1792, 1 was put on thirty- 
five committees, prepared all their reports, and drew 
all their bills. Absorbed by those details, my attention 
was turned exclusively to administrative laws, and not 
to legislation properly so called. ... I failed, though 
the bill I had introduced passed the House, in my efforts 
to lay the foundation for a better system of education. 
Primary education was almost universal in Pennsyl- 
vania, but very bad, and the bulk of school-masters in- 
competent, miserably paid, and held in no consideration. 
It appeared to me that in order to create a sufficient 
number of competent teachers, and to raise the standard 
of general education, intermediate academical education 
was an indispensable preliminary step, and the object of 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 4tJ 

the bill was to establish in each county an academy, 
allowing to each out of the treasury a sum equal to 
that raised by taxation in the county for its support. 
But there was at that time in Pennsylvania a Quaker 
and a German opposition to every plan of general edu- 
cation. 

" The spirit of internal improvements had not yet 
been awakened. Still, the first turnpike-road in the 
United States was that from Philadelphia to Lancaster, 
which met with considerable opposition. This, as well 
as every temporary improvement in our communications 
(roads and rivers) and preliminary surveys, met, of 
course, with my warm support. But it was in the fiscal 
department that I was particularly employed, and the 
circumstances of the times favored the restoration of the 
Unauces of the State. 

" The report of the Committee of Ways and Means 
of the session 1790-91 was entirely prepared by me, 
known to be so, and laid the foundation of my reputa- 
tion. I was quite astonished at the general encomiums 
bestowed upon it, and was not at all aware that I had 
done so well. It was perspicuous and comprehensive ; 
but I am confident that its true merit, and that which 
gained me the general confidence, was its being founded 
in strict justice, without the slightest regard to party 
feelings or popular prejudices. The principles assumed, 
and which were carried into effect, were the immediate 
reimbursement and extinction of the state paper-money, 
the immediate payment in specie of all the current ex- 
penses, or warrants on the treasury (the postponement 
and uncertainty of which had given rise to shameful and 
corrupt speculations), and provision for discharging with- 



48 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

out defalcation every debt and engagement previously 
recognized by the State. In conformity with this, the 
State paid to its creditors the difference between the 
nominal amount of the state debt assumed by the United 
States and the rate at which it was funded by the act 
of Congress. 

" The proceeds of the public lands, together with the 
arrears, were the fund which not only discharged all the 
public debts, but left a large surplus. The apprehension 
that this would be squandered by the Legislature was 
the principal inducement for chartering the Bank of 
Pennsylvania, with a capital of two millions of dollars, 
of which the State subscribed one half. This, and simi- 
lar subsequent investments, enabled Pennsylvania to de- 
fray, out of the dividends, all the expenses of govern- 
ment without any direct tax during the forty ensuing 
years, and till the adoption of the system of internal 
improvement, which required new resources. 

" It was my constant assiduity to business, and the 
assistance derived from it by many members, which en- 
abled the Republican party in the Legislature, then a 
minority on a joint ballot, to elect me, and no other but 
me of that party Senator of the United States." ^ 

The seat of government was changed from New 
York to Philadelphia in 1790, and the first Con- 

1 Among the reports enumerated by Mr. Gallatin, as those of 
which he was the author, is one made by a committee on March 
22, 1793, that they. . . . are of opinion slavery is inconsistent 
lyith every principle of humanity, justice, and right, and repug- 
jant to the spirit and express letter of the Constitution of the 
Commonwealth. Added to this was a resolution for its abolition 
in the Commonwealth. 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 49 

gress assembled there in the early days of Decem- 
ber for its final session. Philadelphia was in glee 
over the transfer of the departments. The con- 
vention which framed the new state Constitution 
met here in the fall, and the Legislature was also 
holding its sessions. The atmosphere was political. 
The national and local representatives met each 
other at all times and in all places, and the pub- 
lic affairs were the chief topic in and out of doors. 
In this busy whirl Gallatin made many friends, 
but Philadelphia was no more to his taste as a 
residence than Boston. He was disgusted with 
the ostentatious display of wealth, the result not 
of industry but of speculation, and not in the 
hands of the most deserving members of the com- 
munity. Later he became more reconciled to the 
tone of Pennsylvania society, comparing it with 
that of New York ; he was especially pleased with 
its democratic spirit, and the absence oi family in- 
fluence. " In Pennsylvania," he says, " not only 
we have neither Livingstons, nor Rensselaers, 
but from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the banks 
of the Ohio I do not know a single family that 
has any extensive influence. An equal distribu- 
tion of property has rendered every individual in- 
dependent, and there is amongst us true and real 
equality. In a word, as I am lazy, I like a country 
where living is cheap ; and as I am poor, I like a 
country where no person is very rich." Hamil- 
ton's excise bill was a bone of contention in the 
4 



60 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

national and state Legislatures throughout the 
winter. Direct taxation upon anything was un- 
popular, that on distilled spirits the most distaste- 
ful to Pennsylvania, where whiskey stills were 
numerous in the Alleglianies. To the bill intro- 
duced into Congress a reply was immediately 
made January 14, 1791, by the Pennsylvania As- 
sembly in a series of resolutions which are sup- 
posed to have been drafted by Mr. Gallatin, and to 
have been the first legislative paper from his pen. 
They distinctly charged that the obnoxious bill 

^ was "subversive of the peace, liberty, and rights 
of the citizen." 

Tax by excise has always been offensive to 
the American people, as it was to their ancestors 
across the sea. It was characterized by the first 
Continental Congress of 1774 as " the horror of 
all free States." Notwithstanding their warmth, 
these resolutions passed the Assembly by a vote of 
40 to 16. The course of this excitement must 
be followed as it swept Mr. Gallatin in its mad 
current, and but for his self-control, courage, and 
adroitness would have wrecked him on the break- 
ers at the outset of his political voyage. The ex- 
cise law passed Congress on March 3, 1791. On 
June 22 the state Legislature, by a vote of 36 to 
11, requested their senators and representatives 
in Congress to oppose every part of the bill which 
" shall militate against the rights and liberties of 

^^ the people." 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 61 

The western counties of Pennsylvania — West- 
moreland, Fayette, Washington, and Allegheny — 
lie around the head-waters of the Ohio in a radius 
of more than a hundred miles. At this time they 
contained a population of about seventy thousand 
souls. Pittsburgh, the seat of justice, had about 
twelve hundred inhabitants. The Alleghany 
Mountains separate this wild region from the 
eastern section of the State. There were few 
roads of any kind, and these lay through woods. 
The mountain passes could be travelled only on 
foot or horseback. The only trade with the East 
was by pack-horses, while communication with the 
South was cut off by hostile Indian tribes who 
held the banks of the Ohio. This isolation from 
the older, denser, and more civilized settlements 
bred in the people a spirit of self-reliance and in- 
dependence. They were in great part Scotch- 
Irish Presbyterians, a religious and warlike race 
to whom the hatred of an exciseman was a tradi- 
tion of their forefathers. Having no market for 
their grain, they were compelled to preserve it by 
converting it into whiskey. The still was the 
necessary appendage of every farm. The tax was 
light, but payable in money, of which there was 
little or none. Its imposition, therefore, coupled 
with the declaration of its oppressive nature by 
the Pennsylvania Legislature, excited a spirit of 
determined opposition near akin to revolution. 
Unpopular in all the western part of the state, 



52 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Hamilton's bill was especially odious to the people 
of Washington County. The first meeting in op- 
position to it was held at Red Stone Old Fort or 
Brownsville, the site of one of those ancient re- 
mains of the mound-builders which abound in the 
western valleys. It was easily reached by Brad- 
dock's Road, the chief highway of the country. 
Here gathered on July 27, 1791, a number of per- 
sons opposed to the law, when it was agreed that 
county committees should be convened in the four 
counties at the respective seats of justice. Brack- 
enridge, in his " Incidents of the Western Insur- 
rection," says that Albert Gallatin was clerk of 
the meeting. One of these committees met in the 
town of Washington on August 23, when violent 
resolutions were adopted. Gallatin, engaged at 
Philadelphia, was not present at this assemblage, 
three of whose members were deputed to meet 
delegates from the counties of Westmoreland, 
Fayette, and Allegheny, at Pittsburgh, on the first 
Tuesday in September following, to agree upon 
an address to the Legislature on the subject of 
excise and other grievances. At the Pittsburgh 
meeting eleven delegates appeared for the four 
counties. The resolutions adopted by them, gen- 
eral in character, read more like a declaration of 
grievances as a basis for revolution than a petition 
for special redress. No wonder that the Secretary 
of the Treasury stigmatized them as "intemper- 
ate." They charge that in the laws of the late 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 63 

Congress hasty strides had been made to all that 
was unjust and oppressive. They complain of the 
increase in the salaries of oflScials, of the unreason- 
able interest of the national debt, of the non-dis- 
crimination between original holders and trans- 
ferees of the public securities, of the National Bank 
as a base offspring of the funding system ; finally, 
in detail, of the excise law of March 3, 1791. At 
this meeting James Marshall and David Bradford 
represented Washington County. 

In August offices of inspection were opened. 
The spirit of resistance was now fully aroused, 
and in the early days of September the collectors 
for Washington, Westmoreland, and Fayette were 
treated with violence. Unwilling to proceed to 
excessive measures, and no doubt swayed by the 
attitude of the Pennsylvania Legislature, Congress 
in October referred the law back to Hamilton for 
revision. He reported an amended act on March 
6, 1792, which was immediately passed, and be- 
came a law March 8. It was to take effect on 
the last day of June succeeding. By it the rate 
of duty was reduced, a privilege of time as to the 
running of licenses of stills granted, and the tax 
ordered only for such time as they were actually 
used. 

But these modifications did not satisfy the mal- 
contents of the four western counties, who met 
again on August 21, 1792, at Pittsburgh. Of this 
second Pittsburgh meeting Albert Gallatin was 



54 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

chosen secretary. Badollet went up with Gallatin. 
John Smilie, James Marshall, and James Bradford 
of Washington County were present. Bradford, 
Marshall, Gallatin, and others were appointed to 
draw up a remonstrance to Congress. In order 
to carry out with regularity and concert the 
measures agreed upon, a committee of correspond- 
ence was appointed, and the meeting closed with 
the adoption of the violent resolutions passed at 
the Washington meeting of 1791 : — 

" Whereas, some men may be found among us so far 
lost to every sense of virtue and feeling for the dis- 
tresses of this country as to accept offices for the col- 
lection of the duty, 

" Resolved, therefore, that in future we will consider 
such persons as unworthy of our friendship ; have no in- 
tercourse or dealings with them ; withdraw from them 
every assistance, and withhold all the comforts of life 
which depend upon those duties that as men and fel- 
low-citizens we owe to each other ; and upon all occa- 
sions treat them with that contempt they deserve ; and 
that it be, and it is hereby, most earnestly recommended 
to the people at large, to follow the same line of con- 
duct towards them." 

If such an excommunication were to be meted 
out to an offending neighbor, what measure would 
the excise man receive if he came from abroad on 
his unwelcome errand ? 

These resolutions were signed by Mr. Gallatin 
as clerk, and made public through the press. Res* 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 55 

olutions of this character, if not criminal, reach 
the utmost limit of indiscretion, and poUtical in- 
discretion is quite as dangerous as crime. The 
petition to Congress, subscribed by the inhabit- 
ants of western Pennsylvania, was drawn by Gal- 
latin ; while explicit in terms, it was moderate in 
tone. It represented the unequal operation of the 
act. "A duty laid on the common drink of a nation, 
instead of taxing the citizens in proportion to their 
property, falls as heavy on the poorest class as on 
the rich ; " and it ingeniously pointed out that the 
distance of the inhabitants of the western counties 
from market prevented their bringing the produce 
of their lands to sale, either in grain or meal. 
"We are therefore distillers through necessity, 
not choice ; that we may comprehend the greatest 
value in the smallest size and weight." 

Hamilton, indignant, reported the proceedings 
to the President on September 9, 1792, and de- 
manded instant punishment. Washington, who 
was at Mount Vernon, was unwilling to go to 
extremes, but consented to issue a proclamation, 
which, drafted by Hamilton, and countersigned 
by Jefferson, was published September 15, 1792. 
It earnestly admonished all persons to desist from 
unlawful combinations to obstruct the operations of 
the laws, and charged all courts, magistrates, and 
officers with their enforcement. There was no 
mistaking Hamilton's intention to enforce the 
law. Prosecutions in the Circuit Court, held at 



56 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Yorktown in October, were ordered against tbe 
Pittsburgh offenders, but no proof could be bad to 
sustain an indictment. 

The President's proclamation startled the west- 
ern people, and some uneasiness was felt as to how 
such of their representatives as had taken part in 
the Pittsburgh meeting would be received when 
they should go up to the Legislature in the winter. 
Bradford and Smilie accompanied Gallatin ; Smihe 
to take his seat in the state Senate, and Bradford 
to represent Washington County in the House, 
where he " cut a poor figure." Gallatin despised 
him, and characterized him as a " tenth-rate law- 
yer and an empty drum." Gallatin found, how- 
ever, that although the Pittsburgh meeting had 
hurt the general interest of his party throughout 
the State, and " rather defeated " the repeal of the 
excise law, his eastern friends did not turn the 
cold shoulder to him. He said to every one whom 
he knew that the resolutions were perhaps too 
violent and undoubtedly highly impolitic, but, 
in his opinion, contained nothing illegal. Mean- 
while Federal officers proceeded to enforce the 
law in Washington County. A riot ensued, and 
the office was forcibly closed. Bills were found 
against two of the offenders in the federal court, 
and warrants to arrest and bring them to Phila- 
delphia for trial were issued. Gallatin believed 
the men innocent, and did not hesitate to advise 
Badollet to keep them out of the way when the 



PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 57 

marshal should go to serve the writs, but depre- 
cated any insult to the officer. He thought " the 
precedent a very dangerous one to drag people 
such a distance in order to be tried on govern- 
mental prosecutions." Here the matter rested 
for a season. 

At this session of the Legislature Gallatin in- 
troduced a new system of county taxation, pro- 
posed a clause providing for " trustees yearly 
elected, one to each township, without whose con- 
sent no tax is to be raised, nor any above one per 
cent, on the value of lands," which he hoped would 
"tend to crush the aristocracy of every town in 
the State." Also he proposed a plan to establish 
a school and library in each county, with a suffi- 
cient immediate sum in money, and a yearly al- 
lowance for a teacher in the English language. 



CHAPTER III. 

UNITED STATES SENATE. 

The death of the grandfather of Mr. Gallatin, 
and soon after of his aunt, strongly tempted him 
to make a journey to Geneva in the summer of 
1793. The political condition of Europe at that 
time was of thrilling interest. On January 21 the 
head of Louis XVI. fell under the guillotine, to 
which Marie Antoinette soon followed him. The 
armies of the coalition were closing in upon France. 
Of the political necessity for these state executions 
there has always been and will always be different 
judgments. That of Mr. Gallatin is of peculiar 
value. It is found expressed in intimate frank- 
ness in a letter to his friend Badollet, written at 
Philadelphia, February 1, 1794. 

" France at present offers a spectacle unheard of at 
any other period. Enthusiasm there produces an energy 
equally terrible and sublime. All those virtues which de- 
pend upon social or family affections, all those amiable 
weaknesses, which our natural feelings teach us to love or 
respect, have disappeared before the stronger, the only, 
at present, powerful passion, the Amor Patrice, I must 
confess my soul is not enough steeled, not sometimes 
to shrink at the dreadful executions which have restored 



UNITED STATES SENATE. 69 

at least apparent internal tranquillity to that republic. 
Yet upon the whole, as long as the combined despots 
press upon every frontier, and employ every engine to 
destroy and distress the interior parts, I think they, and 
they alone, are answerable for every act of severity or 
injustice, for every excess, nay for every crime, which 
either of the contending parties in France may have 
committed." 

Within a few years the publication of the cor- 
respondence of De Fersen, the agent of the King 
and Queen, has supplied the proof of the charge 
that they were in secret correspondence with the 
allied sovereigns to introduce foreign troops upon 
the soil of France, — a crime which no people has 
ever condoned. 

The French Revolution, which from its begin- 
ning in 1789 reacted upon the United States with 
fully the force that the American Revolution ex- 
erted upon France, had become an important 
factor in American politics. The intemperance 
of Genet, the minister of the French Convention 
to the United States on the one hand, and the 
breaches of neutrality by England on the other, 
were dividing the American people into English 
and French parties. The Federalists sympathized 
with the English, the late enemies, and the Re- 
publicans with the French, the late allies, of the 
United States. 

Mr. Gallatin had about made up his mind to 
visit Europe, when an unexpected political honor 



60 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

changed his plans. The Pennsylvania Legislature 
elected him a senator of the United States on joint 
ballot, a distinction the more singular in that the 
Legislature was Federalist and Mr. Gallatin was a 
representative of a Republican district, and strong 
in that faith. Moreover, he was not a candidate 
either of his own motion or by that of his friends, 
but, on the contrary, had doubts as to his eligibil- 
ity because of insufficient residence. This objec- 
tion, which he hiuiself stated in caucus, was dis- 
regarded, and on February 28, 1793, by a vote of 
45 to 37, he was chosen senator. Mr. Gallatin 
had just completed his thirty-second year, and 
now a happy marriage came opportunely to stim- 
ulate his ambition and smooth his path to other 
honors. 

Among the friends made at Philadelphia was 
Alexander J. Dallas, a gentleman two years Gal- 
latin's senior, whose career, in some respects, re- 
sembled his own. He was born in Jamaica, of 
Scotch parents ; had been thoroughly educated at 
Edinburgh and Westminster, and, coming to the 
United States in 1783, had settled in Philadelphia, 
where he married a daughter of Governor Mifflin. 
He now held the post of Secretary of State 
for Pennsylvania. Mr. Gallatin's constant com- 
mittee service brought him into close relations 
with the Secretary, and the foundation was laid of 
a lasting political friendship and social intimacy 
In the recess of the Legislature, Mr. Gallatin 



UNITED STATES SENATE. 61 

joined Mr. Dallas and his wife in an excursion to 
the northward. Mr. Gallatin's health had suffered 
from close confinement and too strict attention to 
business, and he needed recreation and diversion. 
In the course of the journey the party was joined 
by some ladies, friends of Mrs. Dallas, among 
whom was Miss Hannah Nicholson. The' excur- 
sion lasted nearly four weeks. The result was 
that Mr. Gallatin returned to Philadelphia the 
accepted suitor of this young lady. He describes 
her in a letter to Badollet as " a girl about 
twenty-five years old, who is neither handsome 
nor rich, but sensible, well-informed, good-na^ 
tured, and belonging to a respectable and very 
amiable family." Nor was he mistaken in his 
choice, — a more charming nature, a more perfect, 
well-rounded character than hers is rarely found. 
They were married on November 11, 1793. She 
was his faithful companion throughout his long 
and honorable career, and death separated them 
but by a few months. This alliance greatly wid- 
ened his political connection. 

Commodore James Nicholson, his wife's father, 
famous in the naval annals of the United States 
as the captain of the Trumbull, the first of Ameri- 
can frigates, at the time resided in New York, and 
was one of the acknowledged leaders of the Re- 
publican party in the city. His two brothers — 
Samuel and John — were captains in the naval ser- 
vice. His two elder daughters were married to in- 



62 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

fluential gentlemen ; — Catharine to Colonel Few, 
senator from Georgia; Frances, to Joshua Seney, 
member of Congress from Maryland ; Maria later 
(1809) married John Montgomery, who had been 
member of Congress from Maryland, and was 
afterwards mayor of Baltimore. A son, James 
Witter Nicholson, then a youth of twenty-one, 
was, in 1795, associated with Mr. Gallatin in his 
Western Company, and, removing to Fayette, 
made his home in what was later and is now known 
as New Geneva. Here, in connection with Mr. 
Gallatin and the brothers Kramer, Germans, he 
established extensive glass works, which proved 
profitable. 

Mr. Gallatin's election to the United States 
Senate did not disqualify him for his unfinished 
legislative term, and, on his return to Philadelphia, 
he was again plunged in his manifold duties. The 
few days which intervened between his marriage 
and the meeting of Congress — a short honey= 
moon — were spent under the roof of Commodore 
Nicholson in New York. 

On February 28, 1793, the Vice-President laid 
before the Senate a certificate from the Legisla- 
ture of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the 
election of Albert Gallatin as senator of the United 
States. Mr. Gallatin took his seat December 2, 
1793. The business of the session was opened by 
the presentation of a petition signed by nineteen 



UNITED STATES SENATE. 63 

individuals of Yorktown, Pennsylvania, stating 
that Mr. Gallatin had not been nine years a citi- 
zen of the United States, This petition had been 
handed to Robert Morris, Mr. Gallatin's col- 
league for Pennsylvania, by a member of the 
Legislature for the county of York, but he had 
declined to present it, and declared to Mr. Gal- 
latin his intention to be perfectly neutral on the 
occasion — at least so Mr. Gallatin wrote to his 
wife the next day ; but Morris did not hold fast 
to this resolution, as the votes in the sequel 
show. The petition was ordered to lie upon 
the table. On December 11 Messrs. Rutherford, 
Cabot, Ellsworth, Livermore, and Mitchell were 
appointed a committee to consider the petition. 
These gentlemen, Gallatin wrote, were undoubt- 
edly, "the worst for him that could have been 
chosen, and did not seem to him to be favorably 
disposed." He himself considered the legal point 
involved as a nice and difficult one, and likely to 
be decided by a party vote. The fourth article of 
the Constitution of the first Confederation of the 
United States reads as follows : — 

" The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friend- 
ship and intercourse among the people of the different 
States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of 
these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from 
justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and 
immunities of free citizens in the several States." 

Article 1, section 3, of the new Constitution 
declares : — 



64 ALBERT GALLATIN 

" No person shall be a senator who shall not have 
attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years 
a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when 
elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he 
shall be chosen." 

Mr. Gallatin landed in Massachusetts in July, 
1780, while still a minor. His residence, there- 
fore, which had been uninterrupted, extended over 
thirteen years. He took the oath of citizenship 
and allegiance to Virginia in October, 1785, since 
which, until his election in 1793, nine years, the 
period called for by the United States Constitu- 
tion, had not elapsed. On the one hand, his actual 
residence exceeded the required period of citizen- 
ship ; on the other, his legal and technical resi- 
dence as a citizen was insufficient. In point of 
fact, his intention to become a citizen dated from 
the summer of 1783. 

To take from the case the air of party proscrip- 
tion, which it was beginning to assume, the Senate 
discharged its special committee, and raised a 
general committee on elections to consider this and 
other cases. On February 10, 1794, the report of 
this committee was submitted, and a day was set 
for a hearing by the Senate, with open doors. On 
that day Mr. Gallatin exhibited a written state- 
ment of facts, agreed to between himself and the 
petitioners, and the case was left to the Senate on 
its merits. On the 28th a test vote was taken upon 
a motion to the effect that " Albert Gallatin, re» 



UNITED STATES SENATE. 65 

turned to this House as a member for the State of 
Pennsylvania, is duly qualified for and elected to a 
seat in the Senate of the United States, and it was 
decided in the negative — yeas, 12 ; nays, 14.^ 

Motion being made that the election of Albert 
Gallatin to be a senator of the United States was 
void, — he not having been a citizen of the United 
States for the term of years required as a qualifi- 
cation to be a senator of the United States, — it 
was further moved to divide the question at the 
word " void " ; and the question being then taken 
on the first paragraph, it passed in the affirma- 
tive — yeas, 14; nays, 12. The yeas and nays 
were required, and the Senate divided as before. 
The resolution was then put and adopted by the 
same vote. Thus Mr. Gallatin, thirteen years a 
resident of the country, a large land-holder in Vir- 
ginia, and for several terms a member of the Penn- 
sylvania Legislature, was excluded from a seat 
in the Senate of the United States. 

Mr. Gallatin conducted his case with great dig- 
nity. On being asked whether he had any testi- 
mony to produce, he replied, in writing, that there 
was not sufficient matter charged in the petition 

1 The yeas and nays being required by one fifth of the senators 
present, there were : Affirmative. — Bradley, Brown, Burr, Butler, 
Edwards, Gainn, Jackson, Langdon, Martin, Monroe, Kobinson, 
Taylor; 12. 

Negative. — Bradford, Cabot, Ellsworth, Foster, Frelinghuysen, 
Hawkins, Izard, King, Livermore, Mitchell, Morris, Potts, Strong 
Vinin^j 14. 



66 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

and, proved by the testimony to vacate his seat, 
and declined to go to the expense of collecting 
evidence until that preliminary question was set- 
tled. 

Short as the period was during which Mr. 
Gallatin held his seat, it was long enough for 
him seriously to annoy the Federal leaders. In- 
deed, it is questionable whether, if he had delayed 
his embarrassing motion, a majority of the Senate 
could have been secured against him. Certain it is 
that the Committee on Elections, appointed on De- 
cember 11, did not send in its report until the day 
after Mr. Gallatin moved his resolution, calling 
upon the Secretary of the Treasury for an elabo- 
rate statement of the debt on January 1, 1794, un- 
der distinct heads, including the balances to cred- 
itor States, a statement of loans, domestic and 
foreign, contracted from the beginning of the 
government, statements of exports and imports ; 
finally for a summary statement of the receipts 
and expenditures to the last day of December, 

1790, distinguishing the moneys received under 
each branch of the revenue and the moneys ex- 
peyided under each of the appropriations^ and stat- 
ing the balances of each branch of the revenue re- 
maining unexpended on that day, and also calling 
for similar and separate statements for the years 

1791, 1792, 1793. This resolution, introduced on 
January 8, was laid over. On the 20th it was 
adopted. It was not until February 10 that a re- 



UNITED STATES SENATE. 67 

ply from the Secretary of the Treasury was re- 
ceived by the Senate, and on the 11th submitted 
to Gallatin, Ellsworth, and Taylor for consider- 
tion and report. In this letter (February 6, 1794) 
Hamilton stated the difficulty of supplying the 
precise information called for, with the clerical 
forces of the department, the interruption it would 
cause in the daily routine of the service, and dep- 
recated the practice of such unexpected demands. 

With this response of the Secretary the inquiry 
fell to the ground, but it was neither forgotten 
nor forgiven by his adherents, and Mr. Gallatin 
paid the penalty on at least one occasion. This 
was years later. On March 2, 1803, the day be- 
fore the adjournment of Congress, Mr. Griswold, 
Federalist from Connecticut, attacked the correct- 
ness of the accounts of the sinking fund, and de- 
manded an answer to a resolution of the House 
on the management of this bureau.^ Had such 
been his desire, Mr. Gallatin was foreclosed from 
Hamilton's excuse. On the night of the 3d he 
sent in an elaborate statement which set accusa- 
tion at rest and criticism at defiance. 

Mr. Gallatin's short stay in the Senate revealed 
to the Federalists the character of the man, who, 
disdaining the lesser flight, checked only at the 
highest game. He accepted his exclusion with 
perfect philosophy. Soon after the session opened 
he said, *' My feelings cannot be much hurt by an 
1 Mr. Gallatin was then Secretary of the Treasury. 



68 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

unfavorable decision, since having been elected is 
an equal proof of the confidence the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania reposed in me, and not being quali- 
fied, if it is so decided, cannot be imputed to me 
as a fault." His exclusion was by no means a dis- 
advantage to him. It made common cause of the 
honor of Pennsylvania and his own ; it endeared 
him to the Republicans of his State as a martyr 
to their principles. It " secured him," to use his 
own words, " many staunch " friends throughout 
the Union, and extended his reputation, hitherto 
local and confined, over the entire land ; more than 
all, it led him to the true field of political contest 
— the House of Representatives of the people of 
the United States. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 

Mr. Gallatin was now out of public life. For 
eighteen months since he came up to the Legisla- 
ture with his friends of the Pittsburgh convention, 
he had not returned to Fayette. His private con- 
cerns were suffering in his absence. Neither his 
barn, his meadow, nor his house was finished at 
the close of 1793. In May, 1794, he took his wife 
to his country home. Their hopes of a summer 
of recreation and domestic comfort in the wild 
beauties of the Monongahela were not to be real- 
ized. Before the end of June the peaceful country 
was in a state of mad agitation. 

The seeds of political discontent, sown at Pitts- 
burgh in 1792, had ripened to an abundant har- 
vest. An act passed by Congress June 5, 1794, 
giving to the state courts concurrent jurisdiction 
in excise cases, removed the grievance of which 
Gallatin complained, the dragging of accused per- 
sons to Philadelphia for trial, but was not con- 
strued to be retroactive in its operation. The 
marshal, accordingly, found it to be his duty to 
serve the writs of May 31 against those who had 



^ 



70 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

fallen under their penalties. These writs were 
returnable in Philadelphia. They were served 
without trouble in Fayette County. Not so in 
Allegheny. Here on July 15, 1794, the marshal 
had completed his service, when, while still in the 
execution of his office, and in company with the 
inspector, he was followed and fired upon. The 
next day a body of men went to the house of the 
marshal and demanded that he should deliver up 
his commission. They were fired upon and dis- 
persed, six were wounded, and the leader killed. 
A general rising followed. The marshal's house, 
though defended by Major Kirkpatrick, with a 
squad from the Pittsburgh garrison, was set on 
fire, with the adjacent buildings, and burned. 
On July 18 the insurgents sent a deputation of 
two or three to Pittsburgh, to require of the mar- 
shal a surrender of the processes in his possession, 
and of the inspector the resignation of his office. 
These demands were, of course, rejected ; but the 
officers, alarmed for their personal safety, left the 
town, and, descending the Ohio by boat to Ma- 
rietta, proceeded by a circuitous route to Philadel- 
phia, and made their report to the United States 
authorities. 

This was the outbreak of the Western or Whis- 
key Insurrection. The excitement spread rapidly 
through the western counties. Fayette County 
was not exempt from it. The collector's house 
was broken into, and his commission taken from 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 71 

him by armed men ; the sheriff refused to serve 
the writs against the rioters of the spring. Since 
these disturbances there had been no trouble 
in this county. But the malcontents elsewhere 
rose in arms, riots ensued, and the safety of the 
whole community was compromised. The news 
reaching Fayette, the distillers held a meeting at 
Uniontown, the county seat, on July 20. Both 
Gallatin and Smilie were present, and by their 
advice it was agreed to submit to the laws. The 
neighboring counties were less fortunate. On 
July 21 the Washington County committee was 
summoned to meet at Mingo Creek Meeting-house. 
On the 23d there was a large assemblage of peo- 
ple, including a number of those who had been 
concerned in burning the house of the Pittsburgh 
inspector. James Marshall, the same who opposed 
the ratification of the Federal Constitution, David 
Bradford, the '' empty drum," and Judge Brack- 
enridge of Pittsburgh, attended this meeting. 
Bradford, the most unscrupulous of the leaders, 
sought to shirk his responsibility, but was intim- 
idated by threats, and thereafter did not dare to 
turn back. Brackenridge was present to counsel 
the insurgents to moderation. In spite of his ef- 
forts the meeting ended in an invitation, which 
the ofl&cers had not the boldness to sign, to the 
townships of the four western counties of Penn- 
sylvania and the adjoining counties of Virginia to 
eend representatives to a general meeting on Au- 



72 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

gust 14, at Parkinson's Ferry on the Monongahela, 
in Washington County. Bradford, determined to 
aggravate the disturbance, stopped the mail at 
Greensburg, on the road between Pittsburgh and 
Philadelphia, and robbed it of the Washington 
and Pittsburgh letters, some of which he pub- 
lished, to the alarm of their authors. 

On July 28 a circular signed by Bradford, Mar- 
hall, and others was sent out from Cannonsburg 
to the militia of the county, whom it summoned 
for personal service, and likewise called for vol- 
unteers to rendezvous the following Wednesday, 
July 30, at their respective places of meeting, 
thence to march to Braddock's Field, on the 
Monongahela, the usual rendezvous of the militia, 
about eight miles south of Pittsburgh, by two 
o'clock of Friday, August 1. It closed in these 
words, " Here is an expedition proposed in which 
you will have an opportunity for displaying your 
military talents and of rendering service to your 
country." Nothing less was contemplated by the 
more extreme of these men than an attack upon 
Fort Pitt and the sack of Pittsburgh. Thoroughly 
aroused at last, the moderate men of Washington 
determined to breast the storm. A meeting was 
held ; James Ross of the United States Senate 
made an earnest appeal, and was supported by 
Scott of the House of Representatives and Stoke- 
ly of the Senate of Pennsylvania. Marshall and 
Bradford yielded, and consented to countermand 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 73 

the order of rendezvous. But the excited popula- 
tion poured into the town from all quarters, and 
Bradford, who found that he had gone too far to 
retreat, again took the lead of the movement, al- 
ready be^^ond restraint. 

There are accounts of this formidable insurrec- 
tion by H. H. Brackenridge and William Findley, 
eye-witnesses. These supply abundant details. 
Findley says that he knew that the movement 
would not stop at the limit apparently set for it. 
" The opposing one law would lead to oppose an- 
other ; they would finally oppose all, and demand 
a new modelling of the Constitution, and there 
would be a revolution." There was great alarm 
in Pittsburgh. A meeting was held there Thurs- 
day evening, July 31, at which a message from 
the Washington County insurgents was read, vio- 
lent resolutions adopted, and the 9th of August 
appointed as the day for a town meeting for elec- 
tion of delegates to a general convention of the 
counties at Parkinson's Ferry ; Judge Bracken- 
ridge of Pittsburgh, a man of education, influence, 
and infinite jest and humor, was present at this 
meeting. Of Scotch-Irish birth himself, his sym- 
pathies of race were with his countrymen, but in 
political sentiments he was not in harmony with 
their leaders. They were nearly all Republicans, 
while he had sided with the Federalists in the 
convention which adopted the new Constitution 
of the United States. He was a man of peace, 



74 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

and of too much sagacity not to foresee the inev- 
itable ruin upon which they were rushing. At 
Mingo Creek he had thwarted the plans of imme- 
diate revolution. The evident policy of moderate 
men was to prevent any violence before the con- 
vention at Parkinson's Ferry should meet, and to 
bend all their energies to control the deliberations 
of that body. The people of Pittsburgh were in- 
tensely excited by the armed gathering almost at 
their doors. 

Brackenridge felt that the only safe issue from 
the situation was to take part in and shape the ac- 
tion of that gathering. Under his lead a commit- 
tee from the Pittsburgh meeting, followed by a 
large body of the citizens, went out to the ren- 
dezvous. Here they found a motley assemblage, 
arrayed in the picturesque campaign costume 
which the mountaineers wore when they equipped 
themselves to meet the Indians, — yellow hunting- 
shirts, handkerchiefs tied about their heads, and 
rifles on the shoulder; the militia were on foot, 
and the light horse of the counties were in military 
dress. Conspicuous about the field, " haughty and 
pompous," as Gallatin described him in the Legis- 
lature, was David Bradford, who had assumed the 
office of major-general. Brackenridge draws a life- 
like picture of him as, mounted on a superb horse 
in splendid trappings, arrayed in full uniform, with 
plume floating in the air and sword drawn, he 
rode over the ground, gave orders to the military, 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION, 75 

and harangued the multitude. On the historic 
ground where Washington plucked his j&rst mili- 
tary laurels were gathered about seven thousand 
men, of whom two thousand militia were armed 
and accoutred as for a campaign, — a formidable 
and remarkable assemblage, when it is considered 
that the entire male population of sixteen years 
of age and upwards of the four counties did not 
exceed sixteen thousand, and was scattered over 
a wide and unsettled country. This is Brack- 
enridge's estimate of the numbers. Later, Gal- 
latin, on comparison of the best attainable infor- 
mation, estimated the whole body at from fifteen 
hundred to two thousand men. Whatever vio- 
lence Bradford may have intended, none was ac- 
complished. That he read aloud the Pittsburgh 
letters, taken from the mail, shows his purpose to 
inflame the people to vindictive violence. He was 
accused by contemporary authorities of imitation 
of the methods of the French Jacobins, which 
were fresh examples of revolutionary vigor. But 
the mass was not persuaded. After desultory con- 
versation and discussion, the angry turn of which 
was at times threatening to the moderate leaders, 
the meeting broke up on August 2 ; about one 
third dispersed for their homes, and the remain- 
der, marching to Pittsburgh, paraded through the 
streets, and finally crossing the river in their turn 
scattered. They did no damage to the town be- 
yond the burning of a farm belonging to Major 



76 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Kirkpatrick of the garrison. The taverns were 
all closed, but the citizens brought whiskey to 
their doors. Judge Brackenridge reports that his 
sacrifice to peace on this occasion cost him four 
barrels of his best old rye. 

This moderation was no augury of permanent 
quiet. Brackenridge, who was a keen observer of 
men, says of the temper of the western population 
at this period : " I had seen the spirit which pre- 
vailed at the Stamp Act, and at the commence- 
ment of the revolution from the government of 
Great Britain, but it was by no means so general 
and so vigorous amongst the common people as 
the spirit which now existed in the country." Nor 
did the armed bands all return peaceably to their 
homes. The house of the collector for Fayette 
and Washington counties was burned, and warn- 
ings were given to those who were disposed to 
submit to the law. The disaffected were called 
" Tom the tinker" men, from the signature affixed 
to the threatening notices. From a passage in 
one of Gallatin's letters it appears that there was 
a person of that name, a New England man, who 
had been concerned in Shays's insurrection. Lib- 
erty poles, with the device, "An equal tax and 
no excise law," were raised, and the trees pla- 
carded with the old revolutionary motto, " United 
we stand, divided we fall," with a divided snake 
as an emblem. Mr. Gallatin's neighborhood was 
not represented at Braddock's Fields and not more 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 77 

than a dozen were present from the entire county. 
But now the flame spread there also, and liberty 
poles were raised. Mr. Gallatin himself, inquir- 
ing as to their significance and expressing to the 
men engaged the hope that they would not behave 
like a mob, was asked, in return, if he was not 
aware of the Westmoreland resolution that any 
one calling the people a mob should be tarred and 
feathered, — an amusing example of that mob logic 
which proves the affirmative of the proposition it 
denies. 

Mr. Gallatin did not attend the meeting at Brad- 
dock's Field. Somewhat isolated at his residence 
at the southerly border of the county, engaged in 
the care of his long neglected farm, and in the full 
enjoyment of release from the bustle and excite- 
ment of public life, he had paid little attention to 
passing events. He was preparing definitively to 
abandon political pursuits and to follow some kind 
of mercantile business, or take up some land spec- 
ulation and study law in his intervals of leisure. 
It was not a year since he had given hostages to 
fortune. He was now in the full tide of domestic 
happiness, which was always to him the dearest 
and most coveted. He might well have hesitated 
before again engaging upon the dangerous and 
uncertain task of controlling an excited and ag- 
grieved population. But he did not hesitate. 

The people among whom he had made his home, 
and whose confidence had never failed him, were 



78 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

his people. By them he would stand in their ex- 
tremity, and if hurt or ruin befell them, it should 
not be for want of the interposition of his counsel. 
He knew his powers, and he determined to bring 
them into full play. He knew the danger also, 
but it only nerved him to confront and master it. 
He knew his duty, and did not swerve one hair 
from the line it prompted. In no part of his long, 
varied, and useful political life does he appear to 
better advantage than in this exciting episode of 
the Whiskey Insurrection. His self-possession, his 
cool judgment, swayed neither by timidity nor 
rashness, never for a moment failed him. Here 
he displayed that remarkable combination of per- 
suasion and control, — the indispensable equip- 
ment of a political chief, — which, in later days, 
gave him the leadership of the Republican party. 
With intuitive perception of the political situation 
he saw that the only path to safety, beset with dif- 
ficulty and danger though it were, was through the 
convention at Parkinson's Ferry. He did not be- 
lieve that any revolutionary proceedings had yet 
been taken, or that the convention was an ille- 
gal body, but he was determined to separate the 
wheat from the chaff, and disengage the moderate 
and the law-abiding from the disorderly. By 
the light of his own experience he had learned 
wisdom. He also had drawn a lesson from the 
French Revolution, and knew the uncontrollable 
nature of large popular assemblages. The news 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 79 

from Philadelphia, the seat of government, was 
of a kind to increase his alarm. Washington was 
not the man to overlook such an insult to author- 
ity as the resistance to the marshal and inspector ; 
nor was it probable that Hamilton would let pass 
such an occasion for showing the strength and 
vigor of the government. 

Before the meeting at Braddock's Field, the 
Secretary's plans for a suppression of the insur- 
rection were matured. On August 2 he laid be- 
fore the President an estimate of the probable 
armed force of the insurgents, and of that with 
which he proposed to reduce them to submission. 
When the question of the use of force came be- 
fore the cabinet, Edmund Randolph, who was Sec- 
retary of State, opposed it in a written opinion, 
one phrase of which deserves repetition : — 

" It is a fact well known that the parties in the United 
States are highly inflamed against each other, and that 
there is but one character which keeps both in awe. As 
soon as the sword shall be drawn, who shall be able to 
retain them." 

Mifflin, the Governor of Pennsylvania, depre- 
cated immediate resort to force ; the venerable 
Chief Justice McKean suggested the sending of 
commissioners on the part of the federal and 
state governments. Washington, with perfect 
judgment, combined these plans, and happily al- 
lied conciliation with force. A proclamation 



80 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

was issued on August 7 summoning all persons 
involved in the disturbance to lay down their 
arms and repair to their homes by September 1. 
Requisitions were made upon the Governors of 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey 
for fifteen thousand men in all, and a joint com- 
mission of five was raised, — three of whom on 
the part of the United States were appointed by 
the President, and two on the part of the State 
of Pennsylvania. This news was soon known 
at Pittsburgh, and rapidly spread through the ad- 
jacent country ; and it was clear that in the pro- 
ceedings to be taken at Parkinson's Ferry tlie 
question of resistance or submission must be de- 
finitively settled. On August 14, 1794, the con- 
vention assembled ; two hundred and twenty-six 
delegates in all, of whom ninety-three were from 
Washington, forty-nine from Westmoreland, forty- 
three from Allegheny, thirty-three from Fayette, 
two from Bedford, five from Ohio County in Vir- 
ginia, with spectators to about the same number. 
Parkinson's Ferry, later called Williamsport, and 
now Monongahela City, is on the left bank of the 
Monongahela, about half-way between Pittsburgh 
and Red Stone Old Fort or Brownsville. Brack- 
enridge pictures the scene with his usual local 
color : " Our hall was a grove, and we might well 
be called ' the Mountain ' (an allusion to the radical 
left of the French Convention), for we were on a 
very lofty ground overlooking the river. We had 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION, 81 

a gallery of lying timber and stumps, and there 
were more people collected there than there was 
of the committee." 

In full view of the meeting stood a liberty pole, 
raised in the morning by the men who signed the 
Braddock's Field circular order, and it bore the 
significant motto, " Liberty and no excise and no 
asylum for cowards." Among the delegates, or the 
committee, to use their own term, were Bradford, 
Marshall, Brackenridge, Findley, and Gallatin. 
Before the meeting was organized, Marshall came 
to Gallatin and showed him the resolutions which 
he intended to move, intimating at the same time 
that he wished Mr, Gallatin to act as secretary. 
Mr. Gallatin told him that he highly disapproved 
the resolutions, and had come to oppose both him 
and Bradford, and therefore did not wish to serve. 
Marshall seemed to waver ; but soon the people 
met, and Edward Cook of Fayette, who had pre- 
sided at Braddock's Field, was chosen chairman, 
with Gallatin for secretary. Bradford opened the 
proceedings with a summary sketch of the action 
previously taken, declared the purpose of the com- 
mittee to be to determine on a course of action, 
and his own views to be the appointment of com- 
mittees to raise money, purchase arms, enlist vol- 
unteers, or draft the militia: in a word, though 
he did not use it, to levy war. 

At this point in the proceedings the arrival of 
the commissioners from the President was an- 



82 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

nounced, but the progress of the meeting was not 
interrupted. The commissioners were at a house 
near the meeting, but there were serious objec- 
tions against holding a conference at this place. 

Marshall then moved his resolutions. The first, 
declaratory of the grievance of carrying citizens 
great distances for trial, was unanimously agreed 
to. The second called for a committee of public 
safety " to call forth the resources of the western 
country to repel any hostile attempts that may be 
made against the rights of the citizens, or of the 
body of the people." Had this resolution been 
adopted, the people were definitively committed 
to overt rebellion. This brought Mr. Gallatin at 
once to his feet. He denied that any hostile at- 
tempts against the rights of the people were 
threatened, and drew an adroit distinction be- 
tween the regular army, which had not been 
called out, and the militia, who were a part of 
the people themselves ; and to gain time he moved 
a reference of the resolutions to a committee who 
should be instructed to wait the action of the gov- 
ernment. In the course of his speech Gallatin 
denied the assertion that resistance to the excise 
law was legal, or that coercion by the government 
was necessarily hostile. He was neither supported 
by his own friends nor opposed by those of Brad- 
ford. He stood alone. 

But Marshall withdrew his resolution, and a com- 
mittee of sixty was appointed, with power to sum- 



TEE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 83 

mon the people. The only other objectionable 
resolution was that which pledged the people to 
the support of the laws, except the excise law, 
and the taking of citizens out of their counties 
for trial, — an exception which Gallatin succeeded 
in having stricken out. He then urged the adop- 
tion of the resolution, without the exception, as 
necessary " to the establishment of the laws and 
the conservation of the peace," and here he was 
supported by Brackenridge. The entire resolu- 
tions were finally referred to a committee of four, 
— Gallatin, Bradford, Husbands, and Bracken- 
ridge. The meeting then adjourned. The next 
morning a standing committee of sixty was cho- 
sen, one from each township. From these a com- 
mittee of twelve was selected to confer with the 
commissioners of the government. Upon this 
committee were Cook, the chairman, Bradford, 
Marshall, Gallatin, Brackenridge, and Edgar. 
The meeting then adjourned. 

Upon this representative body there seems to 
have been no outside pressure. The proclamation 
of the President, which arrived while it was in ses- 
sion, showed the determination, while the appoint- 
ment of the commission showed the moderation, of 
the government. Gallatin availed of each circum- 
stance with consummate adroitness, pointing out 
to the desperate the folly of resistance, and to 
the moderate an issue for honorable retreat. 

Meanwhile, the commissioners reached Pitts- 



84 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

burgh, where on August 20 the committee of con- 
ference was received by them, and an informal 
understanding arrived at, which was put in writ- 
ing. The laws were to be enforced with as little 
inconvenience to the people as possible. All 
criminal suits for indictable offences were to be 
dropped, but civil suits were to take their course. 
Notice was given that a definitive submission must 
be made by September 1 following. On the 22d 
the conference committee answered that they must 
consult with the committee of sixty. Thursday 
the 28th was appointed for a meeting at Red 
Stone Old Fort, the very spot where the original 
resolutions of opposition were passed in 1791. 
In the report drawn up every member of the 
twelve, except Bradford, favored submission. 

The hour was critical, the deliberations were 
in the open air, and under the eyes of a threaten- 
ing party of seventy riflemen accidentally pres- 
ent from Washington County across the stream. 
Bradford, who instinctively felt that he had placed 
himself beyond the pale of pardon, and to whom 
there was no alternative to revolution but flight, 
pressed an instant decision and rejection of the 
written terms of the commissioners. In the pres- 
ence of personal danger, the conferees only dared 
to move that part of their report which advised 
acceptance of the proffered terms. The question 
of submission they left untouched. An adjourn- 
ment was obtained. The next day, to quote 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 85 

the words of Brackenridge, " the committee hav- 
ing convened, Gallatin addressed the chair in a 
speech of some hours. It was a piece of perfect 
eloquence, and was heard with attention and with- 
out disturbance." Never was there a more strik- 
ing instance of intellectual control over a popular 
assemblage. He saved the western counties of 
Pennsylvania from anarchy and civil war. He 
was followed by Brackenridge, who, warned by 
the example of his companion, or encouraged by 
the quiet of the assemblage, supported him with 
vigor. Bradford, on the other hand, faced the 
issue with directness and savage vehemence. He 
repelled the idea of submission, and insisted upon 
an independent government and a declaration of 
war. Edgar of Washington rejoined in support 
of the report. Gallatin now demanded a vote, 
but the twelve conferees alone supported him. 
He then proposed an informal vote, but without 
result. Finally a secret ballot was proposed by a 
member. A hat was passed, and when the slips of 
paper were taken out, there were thirty-four yeas 
and twenty-three nays. The report was declared 
to be adopted, and amid the scowls of the armed 
witnesses the meeting adjourned ; not, however, 
before a new committee of conference had been 
appointed. On this new committee not one of 
the old leaders was named. They evidently knew 
the folly of further delay, or of attempting to se- 
cure better terms. As his final act Colonel Cook, 



86 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

the chairman of the standing committee of sixty, 
indorsed the resolution adopted. It declared it to 
be "to the interest of the people of the country 
to accede to the proposals made by the commis- 
sioners on the part of the United States." This 
was duly forwarded, with request for a further 
conference. The commissioners consented, but 
declined to postpone the time of taking the sense 
of the people beyond September 11. 

William Findley said of the famous and crit- 
ical debate at Red Stone : " I had never heard 
speeches that I more ardently desired to see in 
print than those delivered on this occasion. They 
would not only be valuable on account of the ora- 
tory and information displayed in all the three, 
and especially in Gallatin's, who opened the way, 
but they would also have been the best history of 
the spirit and the mistakes which then actuated 
men's minds." Findley, in his allotment of the 
honors of the day, considers that " the verbal 
alterations made by Gallatin saved the question." 
Brackenridge thought that his own seeming to 
coincide with Bradford prevented the declaration 
of war ; and he has been credited with having 
saved the western counties from the horrors of 
civil war, Pittsburgh from destruction, and the 
Federal Union from imminent danger. 

Historians have agreed in according to Gallatin 
the honor of this field day. It was left to John 
C. Hamilton, half a century later, to charge a 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 87 

want of courage upon Gallatin, — a charge made 
against proof and against knowledge.^ Not Males- 
herbes, the noble advocate defending the accused 
monarch before the angry French Convention, 
with the certainty of the guillotine as the reward 
of his generosity, is more worthy of admiration 
than Gallatin boldly pleading the cause of order 
within rifle range of an excited band of lawless 
frontiersmen. If, as he confessed later, in his 
part in the Pittsburgh resolutions he was guilty 
of " a political sin," he nobly atoned for it under 
circumstances that would have tried the courage 
of men bred to danger and to arms. Sin it was, 
and its consequences were not yet summed up. 
For although the back of the insurrection was 
broken at Red Stone Old Fort, there was much 
yet to be done before submission could be com- 
pleted. 

Bradford attempted to sign, but found that his 
course at Red Stone Old Fort had placed him out- 
side the amnesty. Well might the moderate men 
say in their familiar manner of Scripture allusion, 
" Dagon is fallen." He fled down the Ohio and 
Mississippi to Louisiana, then foreign soil. The 
commissioners waited at Pittsburgh for the sig- 
natures of adhesion on September 10, which was 
the last day allowed by the terms of amnesty 
They required that meetings should be held on 
this day in the several townships, the presiding 

I Hamilton's History of the Republic, vi. 96. 



88 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ofl&cers to report the result to commissioner Ross at 
Uniontown the 16th of the same month, on which 
day he would set out for Philadelphia. The time 
was inadequate, but there was no help. Gallatin 
hastened the submission of Fayette, and a meet- 
ing of committees from the several townships met 
at the county seat, Uniontown, on September 10, 
1794, when a declaration drawn by Mr. Gallatin 
was unanimously adopted. A passage in this ad- 
mirable paper shows the comparative order which 
prevailed in Fayette County during this period of 
trouble. It is an appeal to the people of the 
neighboring counties, who, under the influence of 
their passions and resentment, might blame those 
of Fayette for their moderation. 

" The only reflection we mean to suggest to them 
is the disinterestedness of our conduct upon this occasion. 
The indictable offences to be buried in oblivion were 
committed amongst them, and almost every civil suit 
that has been instituted under the revenue law, in the 
federal court, was commenced against citizens of this ' 
county. By the terms proposed, the criminal prosecu- 
tions are to be dropped, but no condition could be 
obtained for the civil suits. We have been instrumental 
in obtaining an amnesty, from which those alone who 
had a share in the riots derive a benefit, and the other 
inhabitants of the western country have gained nothing 
for themselves." 

This declaration was forwarded on September 
17 to Governor Mifflin, with reasons for the delay, 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 89 

and advice that signatures were fast being ob- 
tained, not only in the neighboring counties, but 
even in Fayette, where this formality had not 
been thought necessary. It closes with a forcible 
appeal to delay the sending of troops until every 
conciliatory measure should have proved abortive. 

But the commissioners, unfortunately, were not 
favorably impressed with the reception they met 
with or the scenes they witnessed on their western 
mission. They had heard of Bradford's threat to 
establish an independent government west of the 
mountains, and they had seen a liberty pole raised 
upon which the people with the greatest difficulty 
had been dissuaded from hoisting a flag with six 
stripes — emblematic of the six counties repre- 
sented in the committee. The flag was made, but 
set aside for the fifteen stripes with reluctance. 
This is Findley's recollection, but Brackenridge 
says that it was a flag of seven stars for the four 
western counties, Bedford, and the two counties 
of Virginia. This, he adds, was the first and 
only manifestation among any class of a desire to 
separate from the Union. But here his memory 
failed him. 

Hamilton had long been impatient. Again, as 
in old days, he presented his arguments directly 
to the people. Under the heading, " TuUy to the 
people of the United States," he printed a letter 
on August 26, of which the following is a pas- 



90 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

"Your representatives in Congress, pursuant to the 
commission derived from you, and with a full knowledge 
of the public exigencies, have laid an excise. At three 
succeeding sessions they have revised that act . . . and 
you have actually paid more than a million of dollars on 
account of it. But the four western counties of Pennsyl- 
vania undertake to rejudge and reverse your decrees. 
You have said, * The Congress shall have power to lay 
excises.* They say, ' The Congress shall not have this 
power ; * or, what is equivalent, they shall not exercise 
it, for a power that may not be exercised is a nullity. 
Your representatives have said, and four times repeated 
it, '■ An excise on distilled spirits shall be collected ; ' they 
say it shall not be collected. We will punish, expel, 
and banish the officers who shall attempt the collection." 

The peace commissioners returned to Philadel- 
phia and made their report on September 24. The 
next day, September 25, Washington issued a 
proclamation calling out the troops. In it be 
again warned the insurgents. The militia, already 
armed, accoutred, and equipped, and awaiting 
marching orders, moved at once. Governor Mifflin 
at first hesitated about his power to call out the 
militia, but when the President's requisition was 
made, he summoned the Legislature in special ses- 
sion, and obtained from it a hearty support, with 
authority to accept volunteers and offer a bounty. 
Thus fortified, he made a tour through the lower 
counties of the State, and by his extraordinary 
popular eloquence soon filled up the ranks. The 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION, 91 

old soldier led his troops in person. Those of 
New Jersey were commanded by their governor, 
Richard Howell of Revolutionary fame. These 
formed the right wing and marched to rendezvous 
at Bedford to cross the mountains by the northern 
and Pennsylvania route. The left wing, composed 
of the Virginia troops, under the veteran Morgan, 
and those of Maryland, under Samuel Smith, a 
brigadier-general in the army of the Revolution, 
assembled at Cumberland to cross the mountains 
by Braddock's Road. The chief command was 
confided to Governor Henry Lee of Virginia. 
Washington accompanied the army as far as 
Bedford. Hamilton continued with it to Pitts- 
burgh, which was reached in the last days of 
October and the first of November, after a wea- 
risome march across the mountains in heavy 
weather. Arrived in the western counties, the 
army found no opposition. 

Meanwhile, on October 2, the standing com- 
mittee met again at Parkinson's Ferry, and unani- 
mously adopted resolutions declaring the general 
submission, and explaining the reasons why signa- 
tures to the amnesty had not been general. Find- 
ley and Redick were appointed to take these res- 
olutions to the President, and to urge him to stop 
the march of the troops. They met the left wing 
at Carlisle. Washington received them courteously, 
but did not consent to countermand the march. 
They hurried back for more unequivocal assur- 



92 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ances, which they hoped to be able to carry to 
meet Washington on his way to review the right 
wing. On October 14, the day of the autumn 
elections, general submissions were universally 
signed, and finally, on October 24, a third and last 
meeting was held at Parkinson's Ferry, at which 
a thousand people attended, when, with James 
Edgar, chairman, and Albert Gallatin, secretary, 
it was resolved, first, that the civil authority was 
fully competent to punish both past and future 
breaches of the law ; secondly, that surrender 
should be made of all persons charged with of- 
fences, in default of which the committee would 
aid in bringing them to justice ; thirdly, that 
offices of inspection might be opened, and that 
the distillers were willing and ready to enter their 
stills. 

These resolutions were published in the " Pitts- 
burgh Gazette." Findley carried them to Bedford, 
but before he reached the army the President had 
returned to Philadelphia. The march of the army 
was not stopped. The two wings made a junc- 
tion at Uniontown. Companies of horse were scat- 
tered through the country. New submissions were 
made, and the oath of allegiance, required by 
General Lee, was generally taken. 

Hamilton now investigated the whole matter of 
the insurrection, and it was charged against him, 
and the charge is supported by Findley, with 
names of persons, that he spared no effort to se- 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 93 

cure evidence to bring Gallatin within the pale of 
an indictment. Of course he failed in this pur- 
pose, if indeed it were ever seriously entertained. 
But the belief that Gallatin was the arch-fiend, 
who instigated the Whiskey Insurrection, had al- 
ready become a settled article in the Federalist 
creed, and for a quarter of a century, long after 
the Federalist party had become a tradition of the 
past, the Genevan was held up to scorn and 
hatred, as an incarnation of deviltry — an en- 
emy of mankind. 

On the 8th November, Hamilton, who remained 
with the army, wrote to the President that Gen- 
eral Lee had concluded to take hold of all who 
are worth the trouble by the military arm, and 
then to deliver them over to the disposition of 
the judiciary. In the mean time, he adds, " all 
possible means are using to obtain evidence, and 
accomplices will be turned against the others." 

The night of November 13, 1794, was appointed 
for the arrests ; a dreadful night Findley describes 
it to have been. The night was frosty ; at eight 
o'clock the horse sallied forth, and before day- 
light arrested in their beds about two hundred 
men. The New Jersey horse made the seizures 
in the Mingo Creek settlement, the hot-bed of the 
insurrection and the scene of the early excesses. 
The prisoners were taken to Pittsburgh, and 
thence, mounted on horses, and guarded by the 
Philadelphia Gentlemen Corps, to the capital. 



M ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Their entrance into Cannonsburg is graphically de- 
scribed by Dr. Carnahan, president of Princeton 
College, in his account of the insurrection, 

" The contrast between the Philadelphia horsemen 
and the prisoners was the most striking that can be 
imagined. The Philadelphians were some of the most 
wealthy and respectable men of that city. Their uni- 
form was blue, of the finest broadcloth. Their horses 
were large and beautiful, all of a bay color, so nearly 
alike that it seemed that every two of them would make 
a good span of coach horses. Their trappings were 
viuperb. Their bridles, stirrups, and martingales glittered 
with silver. Their swords, which were drawn, and 
held elevated in the right hand, gleamed in the rays of 
the setting sun. The prisoners were also mounted on 
horses of all shapes, sizes, and colors ; some large, some 
small, some long tails, some short, some fat, some lean, 
some every color and form that can be named. Some 
had saddles, some blankets, some bridles, some halters, 
some with stirrups, some with none. The riders also 
were various and grotesque in their appearance. Some 
were old, some young, some hale, respectable looking 
men ; others were pale, meagre, and shabbily dressed. 
Some had great coats, — others had blankets on their 
shoulders. The countenance of some was down cast, 
melancholy, dejected; that of others stern, indignant, 
manifesting that they thought themselves undeserving 
such treatment. Two Philadelphia horsemen rode in 
front and then two prisoners, and two horsemen and two 
prisoners, actually throughout a line extending perhaps 
half a mile. ... If these men had been the ones chieflj^ 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 95 

guilty of the disturbance, it would have been no more 
than they deserved. But the guilty had signed the 
amnesty, or had left the county before the army ap- 
proached." 

Dallas, the Secretary of State, Gallatin's friend, 
was one of this troop. Gallatin saw him soon af- 
ter his return. In a letter to his wife of December 
3, Gallatin relates the experience of the trooper 
who had little stomach for the work he had to do. 

" I saw Dallas yesterday. Poor fellow had a most 
disagreeable campaign of it. He says the spirits, I 
call it the madness, of the Philadelphia Gentlemen's 
Corps was beyond conception before the arrival of the 
President. He saw a list (handed about through the 
army by officers, nay, by a general officer) of the names 
of those persons who were to be destroyed at all events, 
and you may easily guess my own was one of the most 
conspicuous. Being one day at table with sundry 
officers, and having expressed his opinion that, if the 
army were going only to support the civil authority, and 
not to do any military execution, one of them (Dallas 
did not tell me his name, but I am told it was one Ross 
of Lancaster, aide-de-camp to Mifflin) half drew a dagger 
he wore instead of a sword, and swore any man who 
uttered such sentiments ought to be dagged. The Pres- 
ident, however, on his arrival, and afterwards Hamilton, 
took uncommon pains to change the sentiments, and at 
last it became fashionable to adopt, or at least to express, 
sentiments similar to those inculcated by them." 

Randolph was, perhaps, not far out of the way 
in his fear of a civil war should blood be drawn. 



96 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

and in his conviction that the influence of Wash- 
ington was the only sedative for the fevered 
political pulse. On November IT general orders 
were issued for the return of the army, a detach- 
ment of twenty-five hundred men only remaining 
in the West, under command of General Morgan. 
There were no further disturbances. The army 
expenses gave a circulating medium, and the farm- 
ers, having now the means to pay their taxes, 
made no further complaints of the excise law. 
The total expense of the insurrection to the gov- 
ernment was 1800,000. 

Mr. Gallatin returned with his wife from his 
western home early in November. He had been 
again chosen at the October elections to represent 
Fayette in the Pennsylvania Assembly. More- 
over, at the same time he was elected to rep- 
resent the congressional district of Washington 
and Allegheny in the House of Representatives of 
the United States. Of four candidates Gallatin 
led the poll. Judge Brackenridge was next in 
order. No better proof is needed of the firm hold 
Gallatin had in the esteem and affection of the 
people. No doubt, either, that they understood his 
principles, and relied upon his sincere attachment 
to the country he had made his home. 

When he appeared to take his seat in the As- 
sembly he found that his election was contested. 
A petition was presented from thirty-four persons 
calling themselves peaceable citizens of Washing- 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 97 

ton County, which stated that their votes had not 
been cast, because of the disturbed condition of the 
country, and requested the Assembly to declare 
the district to have been in a state of insurrection 
at the time of the election, and to vacate the same. 
Mr. Gallatin knew the person who procured the 
signatures, and also that the business originated 
in the army. It was couched in terms insulting 
to all the members elect from that district. After 
a protracted debate the election was declared void 
on January 9, 1795. It was during this debate 
that Mr. Gallatin made the celebrated speech 
called " The speech on the western elections," in 
which occurs the confession already alluded to. 
Speaking of the Pittsburgh resolutions of 1792, 
he said : — 

" I might say that those resolntions did not originate 
at Pittsburgh, as they were almost a transcript of the 
resolutions adopted at Washington the preceding year ; 
and I might even add that they were not introduced by 
me at the meeting, But I wish not to exculpate myself 
where I feel I have been to blame. The sentiments 
thus expressed were not illegal or criminal ; yet I will 
freely acknowledge that they were violent, intemperate, 
and reprehensible. For, by attempting to render the 
office contemptible, they tended to diminish that respect 
for the execution of the laws which is essential to the 
maintenance of a free government ; but whilst I feel 
regret at the remembrance, though no hesitation in this 
open confession of that my only political sin, let me add 
that the blame ought to fall where it is deserved." 
sr 



98 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

This was the first speech of Gallatin that ap- 
peared in print — simple, lucid, convincing. The 
result of the new Assembly election would natu- 
rally determine the right of the representatives of 
the contested district to their seats in Congress. 
Word had gone forth from the Treasury Depart- 
ment that Gallatin must not take his seat in Con- 
gress, and the whippers-in took heed of the desire 
of their chief. A line of instruction to Badollet, 
who lived at Greensburg in Washington County, 
across the river from Gallatin's residence, deter- 
mined the matter. Gallatin warned him against 
the attempt that would be made to disaffect that 
district because none of the representatives whose 
seats had been vacated were residents of it. " Fall 
not into the snare," he wrote ; " take up nobody 
from your own district ; reelect unanimously the 
same members, whether they be your favorites or 
not. It is necessary for the sake of our general 
character." Here is an instance of that true po- 
litical instinct which made of him " the ideal party 
leader." His advice was followed, and all the 
members were reelected but one, who declined. 
Mr. Gallatin returned to his seat in the Assembly 
on February 14, and retained it until March 12, 
when he asked and obtained leave of absence. 
He does not appear to have taken further part in 
the session. The subjects, personal to himself, 
which occupied his attention during the summer 
will be touched upon elsewhere. 



THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 99 

The pitiful business of the trial of the western 
prisoners needs only brief mention. In May Gal- 
latin was summoned before the grand jury as a 
witness on the part of the government. The in- 
quiry was finished May 12, and twenty-two bills 
were found for treason. Against Fayette two 
bills were found ; one for misdemeanor in raising 
the liberty pole in Uniontown. The petit jury 
was composed of twelve men from each of the 
counties of Fayette, Washington, Allegheny, and 
Northumberland, but none from Westmoreland. 
One man, a German from Westmoreland, who 
was concerned in a riot in Fayette, was found 
guilty and condemned to death. Mr. Gallatin, at 
the request of the jury, drew a petition to the 
President, who granted a pardon. Washington 
extended mercy to the only other offender who 
incurred the same penalty. 

To the close of this national episode, which, 
in its various phases of incident and character, is 
of dramatic interest, Gallatin, through good re' 
pute and ill repute, stood manfully by his con- 
stituents and friends. 



l cfC. 



CHAPTER V. 

MEMBEE OF CONGEESS. 

The first session of the fourth Congress began 
at Philadelphia on Monday, December 7, 1795. 
Washington was President, John Adams Vice- 
President. No one of Washington's original con- 
stitutional advisers remained in his cabinet. Jef- 
ferson retired from the State Department at the 
beginning of the first session of the third Con- 
gress. Edmund Randolph, appointed in his place, 
resigned in a cloud of obloquy on August 19, 1795, 
and the portfolio was temporarily in charge of 
Timothy Pickering, Secretary of War. Hamilton 
resigned the department of the Treasury on Jan- 
uary 31, 1795, and Oliver Wolcott, Jr., succeeded 
him in that most important of the early oflBces 
of the government. General Henry Knox, the 
first Secretary of War, pressed by his own pri- 
vate affairs and the interests of a large family, 
withdrew on December 28, 1794, and Timothy 
Pickering, the Postmaster General, had been ap- 
pointed in his stead January 2, 1795. The Navy 
Department was not as yet established (the act 
creating it was passed April 30, 1798), but the 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 101 

affairs which concerned this branch of the public 
service were under the direction of the Secretary 
of War. The administration of Washington was 
drawing to a close. In the lately reconstructed 
cabinet, honest, patriptic, and thorough in admin- 
istration, there was no man of shining mark. 
The Senate was still in the hands of the Federal 
party. The bare majority which rejected Galla- 
tin in the previous Congress had increased to a 
suflBcient strength for party purposes, but neither 
in the ranks of the administration nor the opposi- 
tion was there in this august assemblage one com- 
manding" figure. 

The House was nearly equally divided. The 
post of speaker was warmly contested. Frederick 
A. Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, who had pre- 
sided over the House at the sessions of the first 
Congress, 1789-1791, and again over the third, 
1793-1795, was the candidate of the Federalists, 
but was defeated by Jonathan Dayton of New 
Jersey, whose views in the last session had drifted 
him into sympathy with the Republican opposi- 
tion. The House, when full, numbered one hun- 
dred and five members, among whom were the 
ablest men in the country, veterans of debate 
versed in parliamentary law and skilled in the 
niceties of party fence. In the Federal ranks, 
active, conscious of theiV power, and proud of the 
great party which gloried in Washington as their 
chief, were Robert Goodloe Harper of South Car- 



102 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

olina, Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts, Roger 
Griswold and Uriah Tracy of Connecticut, who 
led the front and held the wings of debate ; while 
in reserve, broken in health but still in the prime 
of life, the pride of his party and of the House, 
was Fisher Ames, the orator of his day, whose 
magic tones held friend and foe in rapt attention, 
while he mastered the reason or touched the heart. 
Upon these men the Federal party relied for the 
vindication of their principles and the mainte- 
nance of their power. Supporting them were Wil- 
liam Vans Murray of Maryland, Goodrich and 
Hillhouse of Connecticut, William Smith of South 
Carolina, Sitgreaves of Pennsylvania, and in the 
ranks a well-trained party. Opposed to this for- 
midable array of Federal talent was the Republi- 
can party, young, vigorous, and in majority, bold 
in their ideas but as yet hesitating in purpose 
under the controlling if not overruling influence 
of the name and popularity of Washington. 

Hamilton watched the shifting fortunes of his 
party from a distance, and found time in the pres- 
sure of a large legal practice to aid each branch 
of administration in turn with his advice. But 
though he still inspired its councils, he no longer 
directed its course. In his Monticello home Jef- 
ferson waited till the fruit was ripe for falling, 
occasionally impatient that his followers did not 
more roughly shake the tree. 

The open rupture of Jefferson with Hamilton 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 103 

was the first great break in the Federal admin- 
istration ; the lukewarmness of Madison, whose 
leanings were always towards Jefferson, followed. 
At the head of the Republican opposition was 
Madison. Wise in council, convincing in argu- 
ment, an able and even adroit debater, he was an 
admirable leader, but his tactics were rather of 
the closet than the field. He was wanting in the 
personal vigor which, scorning defence, delights 
in bold attack upon the central position of the 
enemy, and carries opposition to the last limit of 
parliamentary aggression. With this mildness of 
character, though recognized as the leader of his 
party, he, as a habit, waived his control upon the 
floor of the House, and, reserving his interference 
for occasions when questions of constitutional in- 
terpretation arose, left the general direction of 
debate to William B. Giles of Virginia, a skilful 
tactician and a ready debater, keen, bold, and 
troubled by no scruples of modesty, respect, or 
reverence for friend or foe. Of equal vigor, but 
of more reserve, was John Nicholas of Virginia — 
a man of strong intellect, reliable temper, and with 
the dignity of the old school. To these were now 
added Albert Gallatin and Edward Livingston. 
Edward Livingston, from New York, was young, 
and as yet inexperienced in debate, but of remark- 
able powers. He was another example of that 
early intellectual maturity which was a character- 
istic of the time. 



104 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

When Congress met, the all-disturbing question 
^ was the foreign policy of the United States. The 
influence of the French Revolution upon American 
politics was great. The Federalists, conservative 
in their views, held the new democratic doctrines 
in abhorrence, and used the terrible excesses of 
the French Revolution with telling force against 
their Republican adversaries. The need of a 
strong government was held up as the only alter- 
native to anarchy. In the struggle which now 
united Europe against the French Republic, the 
sympathies of the Federalists were with England. 
Hence they were accused of a desire to establish a 
monarchy in the United States, and were igno- 
miniously called the British party. Shays's Re- 
bellion in Massachusetts and the Whiskey In- 
surrection in Pennsylvania gave point to their 
arguments. 

On the other side was the large and powerful 
party which, throughout the war in the Continental 
Congress, under the confederation in the national 
convention which framed and in the state con- 
ventions which ratified the Constitution, had op- 
posed the tendency to centralization, but had been 
defeated by the yearning of the body of the plain 
people for a government strong enough at least to 
secure them peace at home and protection abroad. 
This natural craving being satisfied, the old aver- 
sion to class distinctions returned. The dread of 
an aristocracy, which did not exist even in name, 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 105 

threw many of the supporters of the Constitution 
into the ranks of its opponents, who were demo- 
crats in name and in fact. The proclamation of 
the rights of man awoke this latent sentiment, 
and aroused an intense sympathy for the people 
of France. This again was strengthened by the 
memory, still warm, of the services of France in 
the cause of independence. Lafayette, who rep- 
resented the true French republican spirit, and 
held a place in the affections of the American 
people second only to that of Washington, was 
languishing, a prisoner to the coalition of sover- 
eigns, in an Austrian dungeon. 

Jefferson returned from France deeply imbued 
with the spirit of the French Revolution. His 
views were warmly received by his political 
friends, and the principles of the new school of 
politics were rapidly spread by an eager band of 
acolytes, whose ranks were recruited until the 
feeble opposition became a powerful party. Dem- 
ocratic societies organized on the plan of the 
French Jacobin clubs extended French influence, 
and no doubt were aided in a practical way 
by Genet, whose recent marriage with the daugh- 
ter of George Clinton, the head of the Republican 
party in New York, was an additional link in the 
bond of alliance. 

During the second session of the third Congress 
Madison had led the opposition in a mild manner ; 
party lines were not yet strongly defined, and the 



106 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

influence of Washington was paramount. In the 
interim between its expiration and the meeting of 
the fourth Congress in December, the country was 
wildly agitated by the Jay treaty. This document 
not reaching America until after the adjournment 
of Congress in March, Washington convened the 
Senate in extra and secret session on June 1, and 
the treaty was ratified by barely two thirds ma- 
jority. Imprudently withheld for a time, it was 
at last made public by Senator Mason of Virginia, 
one of the ten who voted against its ratification. 
It disappointed the people, and was denounced as 
a weak and ignominious surrender of American 
rights. The merchants of Boston, New York^ 
Philadelphia, and Charleston protested against it 
in public meetings. It was burned, and the Eng- 
lish flag was trailed in the dust before the British 
Minister's house at the capital. Jay was hung in 
effigy, and Hamilton, who ventured to defend the 
treaty at a public meeting, was stoned. To add 
to the popular indignation that the impressment 
of American seamen had been ignored in the in- 
strument, came the alarming news that the British 
ministry had renewed their order to seize vessels 
carrying provisions to France, whither a large part 
of the American grain crop was destined. On the 
other hand, Randolph, the Secretary of State, had 
compromised the dignity of his official position 
in his intercourse with Fauchet, the late French 
Ambassador, whose correspondence with his gov- 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 107 

ernment, thrown overboard from a French packet, 
had been fished up by a British man-of-war, and 
forwarded to Grenville, by whom it was returned 
to America. Thus petard answered petard, and 
the charge by the Republicans upon the Feder- 
alists of taking British gold was returned with 
interest, and the accusation of receiving bribe 
money was brought close home to Randolph, if 
not proved. 

Hard names were not wanting either ; Jefferson 
was ridiculed as a sans - eulotte and red-legged 
democrat. Nor was Washington spared. He was 
charged with an assumption of royal airs, with 
political hypocrisj^ and even with being a public 
defaulter ; a charge which no one dared to father, 
and which was instantly shown to be false and ma- 
licious. It was made by Bache in " The Aurora, " 
a contemptible sheet after the fashion of " L' Ami 
du Peuple," Marat's Paris organ. 

Such was the temper of the people when the 
House of Representatives met on December 7, 
1795. The Speaker, Dayton, was strongly anti- 
British in feeling. He was a family connection of 
Burr, but there is no reason to suppose that he was 
under the personal influence of that adroit and un- 
scrupulous partisan. On the 8th President Wash- 
ington, according to his custom, addressed both 
houses of Congress. This day for the first time 
the gallery was thrown open to the public. When 
the reply of the Senate came up for consideration. 



108 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

the purpose of the Republicans was at once mani- 
fest. They would not consent to the approbation 
it expressed of the conduct of the administration. 
They would not admit that the causes of external 
discord had been extinguished " on terms consist- 
ent with our national honor and safety," or indeed 
extinguished at all, and they would not acknowl- 
edge that the efforts of the President to establish 
the peace, freedom, and prosperity of the country 
had been " enlightened and firm." Nevertheless 
the address was agreed to by a vote of 14 to 8. 

In the House a resolution was moved that a 
respectful address ought to be presented. The 
opposition immediately declared itself. Objection 
was made to an address, and in its stead the ap- 
pointment of a committee to wait personally on 
the President was moved. The covert intent was 
apparent through the thin veil of expediency, but 
the Republicans as a body were unwilling to go this 
length in discourtesy and did not support the mo- 
tion. Only eighteen members voted for it. Messrs. 
Madison, Sedgwick, and Sitgreaves, the committee 
to report an address, brought in a draft on the 14th 
which was ordered to be printed for the use of the 
members. The next day the work of dissection was 
begun by an objection to the words " probably 
unequalled spectacle of national happiness" ap- 
plied to the country, and the words " undiminished 
confidence " applied to the President. The words 
" probably unequalled " were stricken out without 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 109 

decided opposition by a vote of forty-three to 
thirty-nine. Opinions were divided on that sub- 
ject even in the ranks of the Federalists. The 
cause of dissatisfaction was the Jay treaty. The 
address was recommitted without a division. The 
next day Madison brought in the address with a 
modification of the clause objected to. In its new 
form the " very great share " of Washington's 
zealous and faithful services in securing the na- 
tional happiness was acknowledged. The address 
thus amended was unanimously adopted. In this 
encounter nothing was gained by the Republicans. 
The people would not have endured an open decla- 
ration of want of confidence in Washington. But 
the entering wedge of the new policy was driven. 
The treaty was to be assailed. It was, however, 
the pretext, not the cause of the struggle, the real 
object of which was to extend the powers of the 
House, and subordinate the Executive to its will. 
Before beginning the main attack the Republicans 
developed their general plan in their treatment 
of secondary issues ; of these the principal was 
a tightening of the control of the House over the 
Treasury Department. In this Mr. Gallatin took 
the lead. His first measure was the appointment 
of a standing Committee of Finance to superintend 
the general operations of this nature, — an efficient 
aid to the Treasury when there was accord between 
the administration and the House, an annoying 
censor when the latter was in opposition, Thia 



110 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

was the beginning of the Ways and Means Com- 
mittee, which soon became and has since contin- 
ued to be the most important committee of the 
House. To it were to be referred all reports from 
the Treasury Department, all propositions relating 
to revenue, and it was to report on the state of 
the public debt, revenue, and expenditures. The 
committee was appointed without opposition. It 
consisted of fourteen members, William Smith, 
Sedgwick, Madison, Baldwin, Gallatin, Bourne, 
Oilman, Murray, Buck, Gilbert, Isaac Smith, 
Blount, Patten, and Hillhouse, and represented 
the strength of both political parties. To this 
committee the estimates of appropriations for the 
support of the government for the coming year 
were referred. The next step was to bring to the 
knowledge of the House the precise condition of 
the Treasury. To this end the Secretary was called 
upon to furnish comparative views of the com- 
merce and tonnage of the country for every year 
from the formation of the department in 1789, 
with tables of the exports and imports, foreign 
and domestic, separately stated, and with a di- 
vision of the nationality of the carrying vessels. 
Later, comparative views were demanded of the 
receipts and expenditures for each year ; the re- 
ceipts under the heads of Loans, Revenue in its 
various forms, and others in their several divisions ; 
the expenditures, also, to be classified under the 
heads of Civil List, Foreign Intercourse, Military 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. Ill 

Establishment, Indian Department, Naval, etc. 
i'inally a call was made for a statement of the 
annual appropriations and the applications of them 
by the Treasury. The object of Mr. Gallatin was to 
establish the expenses of the government in each 
department of service on a permanent footing for 
which annual appropriations should be made, and 
for any extraordinary expenditure to insist on a 
special appropriation for the stated object and none 
other. By keeping constantly before the House 
this distinction between the permanent fund and 
temporary exigencies, he accustomed it to take a 
practical business view of its legislative duties, and 
the people to understand the principles he endeav- 
ored to apply. 

In a debate at the beginning of the session, 
on a bill for establishing trading houses with the 
Indians, Mr. Gallatin showed his hand by declar- 
ing that he would not consent to appropriate any 
part of the war funds for the scheme ; nor, in 
view of the need of additional permanent funds 
for the discharge of the public debt, would he 
vote for the bill at all, unless there was to be a 
reduction in the expense of the military establish- 
ment, and he would not be diverted from his pur- 
pose although Mr. Madison advocated the bill 
because of its extremely benevolent object. The 
Federal leaders saw clearly to what this doctrine 
would bring them, and met it in the beginning. 
The first struggle occurred when the appropria- 



112 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

tions for the service of 1796 were brought before 
the House. Beginning with a discussion upon the 
salaries of the officers of the mint, the debate at 
once passed to the principle of appropriations. 
The Federalists insisted that a discussion of the 
merits of establishments was not in order when 
the appropriations were under consideration ; 
that the House ought not, by withholding appro- 
priations, to destroy establishments formed by the 
whole Legislature, that is by the Senate and 
House ; that the House should vote for the appro- 
priations agreeably to the laws already made. This 
view was sanctioned by practice. Mr. Gallatin 
immediately opposed this as an alarming and 
dangerous principle. He insisted that there was a 
certain discretionary power in the House to appro- 
priate or not to appropriate for any object what- 
ever, whether that object were authorized or not. 
It was a power vested in the House for the pur- 
pose of checking the other branches of government 
whenever necessary. He claimed that this power 
was shown in the making of yearly instead of per- 
manent appropriations for the civil list and mili- 
tary establishments, yet when the House desired 
to strengthen public credit it had rendered the 
appropriation for those objects permanent and not 
yearly. It was, therefore, " contradictory to sup- 
pose that the House was bound to do a certain act 
at the same time that they were exercising the 
discretionary power of voting upon it." The de. 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 113 

bate determined nothing, but it is of interest as 
the first declaration in Congress of the supremacy 
of the House of Representatives. 

The great debate which, from the principles in- 
volved in it as well as the argument and oratory 
with which they were discussed, made this session 
of the House famous, was on the treaty with 
Great Britain. This was the first foreign treaty 
made since the establishment of the Constitution. 
The treaty was sent in to the House " for the infor- 
mation of Congress," by the President, on March 
1st, with notice of its ratification at London in 
October. The next day Mr. Edward Livingston 
moved that the President be requested to send in 
a copy of the instructions to the Minister of the 
United States who negotiated the treaty, together 
with the correspondence and other documents. A 
few days later he amended his resolution by adding 
an exception of such of said papers as any existing 
negotiations rendered improper to disclose. The 
Senate in its ratification of the treaty suspended 
the operation of the clause regulating the trade 
with the West Indies, on which Great Britain 
still imposed the old colonial restriction, and rec- 
ommended the President to open negotiations on 
this subject ; and in fact such negotiations were in 
progress. The discussion was opened on the Fed- 
eral side by a request to the gentlemen in favor of 
the call to give their reasons. Mr. Gallatin sup- 
ported the resolution, and expressed surprise at 



114 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

any objection, considering that the exception of 
the mover rendered the resolution of itself unex- 
ceptionable. The President had not informed the 
House of the reasons upon which the treaty was 
based. If he did not think proper to give the in- 
formation sought for, he would say so to them. A 
question might arise whether the House should get 
at those secrets even if the President refused the 
request, but that was not the present question. In 
reply to Mr. Murray, who asserted that the treaty 
was the supreme law of the land, and that there 
was no discretionary power in the House except on 
the question of its constitutionality, Mr. Gallatin 
said that Congress possessed the power of regulat- 
ing trade, — perhaps the treaty - making power 
clashed with that, — and concluded by observing 
that the House was the grand inquest of the nation, 
and that it had the right to call for papers on which 
to ground an impeachment. At present he did not 
contemplate an exercise of that right. Mr. Madi- 
son said it was now to be decided whether the 
general power of making treaties supersedes the 
powers of the House of Representatives, particu- 
larly specified in the Constitution, so as to give to 
the Executive all deliberative will and leave the 
House only an executive and ministerial instru- 
mental agency ; and he proposed to amend the 
resolution so as to read, " except so much of said 
papers as in his (the President's) judgment it may 
be inconsistent with the interest of the United 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 115 

States at this time to disclose." But Ms motion 
was defeated by a vote of 47 nays to 37 yeas. 

The discussion being resumed in committee of 
the whole, the expressions of opinion were free 
on both sides, but so moderate that one of the 
members made comment on the calmness and 
temper of the discussion. Nicholas said that, if 
the treaty were not the law of the land, the Presi- 
dent should be impeached. But the parts of the 
treaty into which the President had not the right 
to enter, he could not make law by proclamation. 
Swanwick supported the call as one exercised by 
the House of Commons. On the Federal side, 
Harper said that the papers were not necessary, 
and, being unnecessary, the demand was an im- 
proper and unconstitutional interference with the 
executive department. If he thought them nec- 
essary, he would change the milk and water style 
of the resolutions. In that case the House had a 
right to them and he had no idea of requesting as 
a favor what should be demanded as a right. Gal- 
latin, he said, had declared that it was a request, 
but that in case of refusal it might be considered 
whether demand should not be made, and he 
charged that when, at the time the motion was 
made, the question had been asked, what use was to 
be made of the papers, Gallatin did not and could 
not reply. Mr. Gallatin answered that whether 
the House had a discretionary power, or whether 
it was bound by the instrument, there was no im- 



116 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

propriety in calling for the papers. He hoped to 
have avoided the constitutional question in the 
motion, but as the gentlemen had come forward 
on that ground, he had no objection to rest the 
decision of the constitutional power of Congress 
on the fate of the present question. He would 
therefore state that the House had a right to ask 
for the papers. 

The constitutional question being thus squarely 
introduced, Mr. Gallatin made an elaborate 
speech, which, from its conciseness in statement, 
strength of argument, and wealth of citations of 
authority, was, to say the least, inferior to no 
other of those drawn out in this memorable 
struggle. In its course he compared the opinion 
of those who had opposed the resolution to the 
saying of an English bishop, that the people had 
nothing to do with the law but to obey it, and 
likened their conduct to the servile obedience of a 
Parliament of Paris under the old order of things. 
He concluded with the hope that the dangerous 
doctrine, that the representatives of the people 
have not the right to consult their discretion when 
about exercising powers delegated by the Consti- 
tution, would receive its death-blow. Griswold re- 
plied in what by common consent was the strongest 
argument on the Federal side. The call, at first 
view simple, had, he said, become a grave mat- 
ter. The gist of his objection to it was that the 
people in their Constitution had made the treatji 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 117 

power paramount to the legislative, and had de- 
posited that power with the President and Senate. 

Mr. Madison again rose to the constitutional 
question. He said that, if the passages of the Con- 
stitution be taken literally, they must clash. The 
word supreme, as applied to treaties, meant as 
over the state Constitutions, and not over the Con- 
stitution and laws of the United States. He sup- 
ported Mr. Gallatin's view of the congressional 
power as cooperative with the treaty power. A 
construction which made the treaty power omnip- 
otent he thought utterly inadmissible in a con- 
stitution marked throughout with limitations and 
checks. 

Mr. Gallatin again claimed the attention of the 
House, as the original question of a call for papers 
had resolved itself into a discussion on the treaty- 
making power. In the treaty of peace of 1783 
there were three articles which might be supposed 
to interfere with the legishitive powers of the sev- 
eral States : 1st, that which related to the payment 
of debts ; 2d, the provision for no future confisca- 
tions ; 3d, the restitution of estates already confis- 
cated. The first could not be denied. " Those," 
he said, '* might be branded with the epithet of 
disorganizers, who threatened a dissolution of the 
Union in case the measures they dictated were not 
obeyed ; and he knew, although he did not ascribe 
it to any member of the House, that men high in 
office and reputation had industriously spread an 



'y 



118 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

alarm that the Union would be dissolved if the 
present motion was carried." He took the ground 
that a treaty is not valid, and does not bind the 
nation as such, till it has received the sanction of 
the House of Representatives. Mr. Harper closed 
the argument on the Federal side. On March 24 
the resolution calling for the papers was carried by 
a vote of yeas 62, nays 37, absent 5, the Speaker 
1 (105). Livingston and Gallatin were appointed 
to present the request to the President. 

On March 30 the President returned answer to 
the effect that he considered it a dangerous prece- 
dent to admit this right in the House ; that the 
assent of the House was not necessary to the va- 
lidity of a treaty ; and he absolutely refused com- 
pliance with the request. The letter of instruc- 
tions to Jay would bear the closest examination, 
but the cabinet scorned to take shelter behind it, 
and it was on their recommendation that the Pres- 
ident's refusal was explicit. This message, in spite 
of the opposition of the Federalists, was referred, 
by a vote of 55 yeas to 37 nays, to the committee 
of the whole. This reference involved debate. In 
his opposition to this motion, Mr. Harper said 
that the motives of the friends of the resolution 
had been avowed by the " gentleman who led the 
business, from Pennsylvania ; " whereby it ap- 
pears that Mr. Gallatin led the Republicans in 
the first debate. During this his first session he 
shared this distinction with Mr. Madison. At the 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 119 

next he became the acknowledged leader of the 
Republican party. 

On April 3 the debate was resumed. This 
second debate was led by Mr. Madison, who con- 
sidered two points : 1st, the application for pa- 
pers ; 2d, the constitutional rights of Congress. 
His argument was of course calm and dispassion- 
ate after his usual manner. The contest ended on 
April 7, with the adoption of two resolutions : 1st, 
that the power of making treaties is exclusively 
with the President and Senate, and the House do 
not claim an agency in making them, or ratifying 
them when made ; 2d, that when made a treaty 
must depend for the execution of its stipulations 
on a law or laws to be passed by Congress ; and 
the House have a right to deliberate and deter- 
mine the expediency or inexpediency of carrying 
treaties into effect. These resolutions were car- 
ried by a vote of 63 to 27. 

There was now a truce of a few days. In the 
meanwhile the country was agitated to an extent 
which, if words mean anything, really threatened 
an attempt at dissolution of the Union, if not civil 
war itself. The objections on the part of the Re- 
publicans were to the treaty as a whole. Their 
sympathies were with France in her struggle for 
liberty and democratic institutions and against 
"England, and their real and proper ground of an- 
tipathy to the instrument lay in its concession of 
the right of capture of French property in Amer- 



120 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ican vessels, whilst the treaty with France forbade 
her to seize British property in American vessels. 
The objections in detail had been formulated at 
the Boston public meeting the year before. The 
commercial cities were disturbed by the interfer- 
ence with the carrying trade ; the entire coast, by 
the search of vessels and the impressment of sea- 
men ; the agricultural regions, by the closing of 
the outlet for their surplus product ; the upland 
districts, by the stoppage of the export of timber. 
But the country was without a navy, was ill pre- 
pared for war, and the security of the frontier 
was involved in the restoration of the posts still 
held by the British. 

The political situation was uncertain if not 
absolutely menacing. The threats of disunion 
were by no means vague. The Pendleton Society 
in Virginia had passed secession resolutions, and 
a similar disposition appeared in other States. 
While the treaty was condemned in the United 
States, British statesmen were not of one opinion 
as to the advantages they had gained by Gren- 
ville's diplomacy. Jay's desire, expressed to Ran- 
dolph, "to manage so that in case of wars our 
people should be united and those of England di- 
vided," was not wholly disappointed. And there 
is on record the expression of Lord Sheffield, when 
he heard of the rupture in 1812, " We have now 
a complete opportunity of getting rid of that most 
impolitic treaty of 1794, when Lord Grenville was 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 121 

SO perfectly duped by Jay." ^ Washington's rati- 
fication of the treaty went far to correct the hasty 
judgment of the people, and to reconcile them to 
it as a choice of evils. Supported by this modified 
tone of public opinion, the Federalists determined 
to press the necessary appropriation bills for carry- 
ing the treaties into effect. Besides the Jay treaty 
there were also before the House the Wayne 
treaty with the Indians, the Pinckney treaty 
with Spain, and the treaty with Algiers. With 
these three the House was entirely content, and 
the country was impatient for their immediate 
operation. Wayne's treaty satisfied the inhabit- 
ants on the frontier. The settlers along the Ohio, 
among whom was Gallatin's constituency, were 
eager to avail themselves of the privileges granted 
by that of Pinckney, which was a triumph of di- 
plomacy ; and all America, while ready to beard 
the British lion, seems to have been in terror of 
the Dey of Algiers. Mr. Sedgwick offered a reso- 
lution providing for the execution of the four trea- 
ties. Mr. Gallatin insisted on and received a sep- 
arate consideration of each. That with Great 
Britain was reserved till the rest were disposed 
of. It was taken up on April 14. Mr. Madison 
opened the debate. He objected to the treaty as 
wanting in real reciprocity ; 2d, in insufficiency 
of its provisions as to the rights of neutrals ; 3d, 

1 Lord Sheffield to Mr. Abbott, Noyember 6, 1812. Correspond' 
mce of Lord Colchester, ii. 409. 



122 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

because of its commercial restrictions. Other Re- 
publican leaders followed, making strong points of 
the position in which the treaty placed the United 
States with regard to France, to whom it was 
bound by a treaty of commercial alliance, which 
was a part of the contract of aid in the Revolution- 
ary War; and also of the possible injustice which 
would befall American claimants in the British 
courts of admiralty. 

The Federalists clung to their ground, defended 
the treaty as the best attainable, and held up as the 
alternative a war, for which the refusal of the Re- 
publicans to support the military establishment 
and build up a navy left the country unprepared. 
In justice to Jay, his significant words to Ran- 
dolph, while doubtful of success in his negotiation, 
should be remembered : " Let us hope for the 
best and prepare for the worst." To the red flag 
which the Federalists held up, Mr. Gallatin re- 
plied, accepting the consequences of war if it 
should come, and gave voice to the extreme dis- 
satisfaction of the Virginia radicals with Jay and 
the negotiation. He charged that the cry of war 
and threats of a dissolution of the government 
were designed for an impression on the timidity 
of the House. " It was through the fear of being 
involved in a war that the negotiation with Great 
Britain had originated; under the impression of 
fear the treaty had been negotiated and signed ; a 
fear of the same danger, that of war, had pro- 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 123 

moted its ratification ; and now every imaginary 
mischief which could alarm our fears was conjured 
up in order to deprive us of that discretion which 
this House thought they had a right to exercise, 
and in order to force us to carry the treaty into 
effect." He insisted on the important principle 
that ' free ships make free goods,' and complained 
of its abandonment by the negotiators. 

In a reply to this attack upon Jay, whose whole 
life was a refutation of the charge of personal 
or moral timidity, Mr. Tracy passed the limits of 
parliamentary courtesy. " The people," he said, 
" where he was most acquainted, whatever might 
be the character of other parts of the Union, were 
not of the stamp to cry hosannah to-day and crucify 
to-morrow ; they will not dance around a whiskey 
pole to-day and curse their government, and upon 
hearing of a military force sneak into a swamp. 
No," said he, '' my immediate constituents, whom 
I very well know, understand their rights and will 
defend them, and if they find the government will 
not protect them, they will attempt at least to 
protect themselves ; " and he concluded, " I cannot 
be thankful to that gentleman for coming all the 
way from Geneva to give Americans a character 
for pusillanimity." He held it madness to suppose 
that if the treaty were defeated war could be 
avoided. Called to order, he said that he might 
have been too personal, and asked pardon of the 
gentleman and of the House. 



124 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

The brilliant crown of the debate was the im- 
passioned speech of Fisher Ames, the impression 
of which upon the House and the crowded gal- 
lery is one of the traditions of American oratory. 
The scene, as it has been handed down to ub, 
resembles, in all save its close, that which Par- 
liament presented when Chatham made his last 
and dying appeal. Like the great earl, Ames rose 
pale and trembling from illness to address a House 
angry and divided, and, like him also, his voice 
was raised for peace. Defending himself and the 
Federal party against the charge of being in Eng- 
lish interest, he said, " Britain has no influence, 
and can have none. She has enough — and God 
forbid she ever should have more. France, pos- 
sessed of popular enthusiasm, of party attach- 
ments, has had and still has too much influence on 
our politics, — any foreign influence is too much 
and ought to be destroyed. I detest the man 
and disdain the spirit that can ever bend to a mean 
subserviency to the views of any nation. It is 
enough to be American. That character compre- 
hends our duties and ought to engross our attach- 
ments." Considering the probable influence on the 
Indian tribes of the rejection of the treaty, he said, 
" By rejecting the Posts we light the savage fires, 
we bind the victims. ... I can fancy that I listen 
to the yells of savage vengeance and shrieks of tor- 
ture. Already they seem to sigh in the west wind, 
— already they mingle with every echo from the 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 125 

mountains." His closing words again bring Chat- 
ham to mind. " Yet I have perhaps as little per- 
sonal interest in the event as any one here. There 
is, I believe, no member who will not think his 
chance to be a witness of the consequences greater 
than mine. If, however, the vote should pass to 
reject, and a spirit should rise, as rise it will, with 
the public disorders to make confusion worse con- 
founded, even I, slender and almost broken as my 
hold upon life is, may outlive the government and 
Constitution of my country." This appeal, sup- 
ported by the petitions and letters which poured 
in upon the House, left no doubt of the result. An 
adjournment was carried, but the speech was de- 
cisive. The next day, April 29, it was resolved to 
be expedient to make the necessary appropriations 
to carry the treaty into effect. The vote stood 49 
ayes to 49 nays, and was decided in the affirmative 
by Muhlenberg, who was in the chair. But the 
House would not be satisfied without an expression 
of condemnation of the instrument. On April 30 
it was resolved that in the opinion of the House 
the treaty was objectionable. 

While Mr. Gallatin in this debate rose to the 
highest rank of statesmanship, he showed an 
Bqual mastery of other important subjects which 
engaged the attention of the House during the 
session. He was earnest for the protection of the 
frontier, but had no good opinion of the Indians. 
'* Twelve years had passed," he said, " since the 



126 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

peace of 1783 ; ever since that time he had lived 
on the frontier of Pennsylvania. Not a year of this 
period had passed, whether at war or peace, that 
some murders had not been committed by the 
Indians, and yet not an act of invasion or pro- 
vocation by the inhabitants." In the matter of 
impressment of American seamen, he urged the 
lodging of sufficient power in the Executive. Men 
had been impressed, and he held it to be the duty 
of the House to take notice of it by war or nego- 
tiation. In the establishment of land offices for 
the sale of the western lands he brought to bear 
upon legislation his practical experience. He 
urged that the tracts for sale be divided, and dis- 
tinctions be made between large purchasers and 
actual settlers — proposing that the large tracts be 
sold at the seat of government, and the small on 
the territory itself. He instanced the fact that in 
1792 all the land west of the Ohio was disposed of 
at Is. 6i. the acre, and a week afterwards was re- 
sold at $1.50, so that the money which should 
have gone into the treasury went to the pockets of 
speculators. He also suggested that the proceeds 
of the sales should be a fund to pay the public 
debt, and that the public stock should always be 
received at its value in payment for land ; a plan 
by which the land would be brought directly to 
the payment of the debt, as foreigners would 
gladly exchange the money obligations of the gov- 
ernment for land. On the question of taxation 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 127 

he declared himself in favor of direct taxes, and 
held that a tax on houses and lands could be levied 
■without difficulty. He would satisfy the people 
that it was to pay off the public debt, which he 
held to be a public curse. He supported the ex- 
cise duty on stills under regulations which would 
avoid the watching of persons and houses and in- 
spection by officers, and proposed that licenses be 
granted for the time applied for. 

The military establishment he opposed in every 
way, attacked the principle on which it was based, 
and fought every appropriation in detail, from the 
pay of a major-general to the cost of uniforms for 
the private soldiers. He was not afraid of the 
army, he said. He did not think that it was nec- 
essary for the support of the government or dan- 
gerous to the liberties of the people, but it cost six 
hundred thousand dollars a year, which was a sum 
of consequence in the condition of the finances. 

The navy found no more favor in his eyes. He \y 
denied that fleets were necessary to protect com- 
merce. He called upon its friends to show, from 
the history of every nation in Europe as from our 
own, that commerce and the navy had gone hand 
in hand. There was no nation except Great Brit- 
ain, he said, whose navy had any connection with 
commerce. Navies were instruments of power 
more calculated to annoy the trade of other na- 
tions than to protect that of the nations to which 
they belonged. The price England had paid for 



128 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

her navy was a debt of three hundred millions of 
pounds sterling. He opposed appropriations even 
for the three frigates, United States, Constitution, 
and Constellation, — the construction of which had 
been ordered, — the germs of that navy which 
was later to set his theory at naught, redeem the 
honor of the flag, protect our commerce, and re- 
lease the country and the civilized world from 
ignominious tribute to the Mediterranean pirates, 
who were propitated in this very session only at 
the cost of a million of dollars to the treasury of 
the United States, and by the gift of a frigate. 

In the debate over the payment of the sum of 
five millions, which the United States Bank had 
demanded from the government, the greatest part 
of which had been advanced on account of appro- 
priations, he lamented the necessity, but urged the 
liquidation. This was the occasion of another 
personal encounter. In reply to a charge of Gal- 
latin that the Federalists were in favor of debt, 
Sedgwick alluded to Gallatin's part in the Whiskey 
Insurrection, and said that none of those gentle- 
men whom Gallatin had charged with " an object 
to perpetuate and increase the public debt " had 
been known to have combined " in every measure 
which might obstruct the operation of law," nor 
had declared to the world "that the men who 
would accept of the offices to perform the neces- 
sary functions of government were lost to every 
sense of virtue j" ^'that from them was to be 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 129 

withheld every comfort of life which depended on 
those duties which as men and fellow-citizens we 
owe to each other. If," he said, "the gentlemen 
had been guilty of such nefarious practices, there 
would have been a sound foundation for the 
charge brought against them." Gallatin made no 
reply. This was the one political sin he had ac- / 
knowledged. His silence was his expiation. 

The Treasury Department and its control, past 
and present, was the object of his unceasing crit^ 
icism. In April, 1796, he said, " The situation 
of the gentleman at the head of the department 
[Wolcott] was doubtless delicate and unpleasant; 
it was the more so when compared with that of 
his predecessor [Hamilton]. Both indeed had 
the same power to borrow money when neces- 
sary; but that power, which was efficient in the 
hands of the late Secretary and liberally enough 
used by him, was become useless at present. He 
wished the present Secretary to be extricated 
from his present difficulty. Nothing could be 
more painful than to be at the head of that 
department with an empty treasury, a revenue 
inadequate to the expenses, and no means to 
borrow." Nevertheless he feared that if it were 
declared that the payment of the debt incurred by 
themselves were to be postponed till the present 
generation were over, it might well be expected 
that the principle thus adopted by them would be 
cherished, that succeeding legislatures and admin- 



130 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

istrations would follow in their steps, and that 
they were laying the foundations of that national 
curse, — a growing and perpetual debt. 

On the last day of the session W. Smith had 
challenged the correctness of Gallatin's charge 
that there had been an increase of the public debt 
by five millions under the present government, and 
claimed that there were errors in Gallatin's state- 
ment of more than four and a half millions. Gal- 
latin defended his figures. At this day it is impos- 
sible to determine the merits of this dispute. 

One incident of this session deserves mention as 
showing the distaste of Gallatin for anything like 
personal compliment, stimulated in this instance, 
perhaps, by his sense of Washington's dislike to 
himself. It had been the habit of the House since 
the commencement of the government to adjourn 
for a time on February 22, Washington's birth- 
day, that members might pay their respects to the 
President. When the motion was made that the 
House adjourn for half an hour^ the Republicans 
objected, and Gallatin, nothing loath to " bell the 
cat," moved that the words " half an hour " be 
struck out. His amendment was lost without a di- 
vision. The motion to adjourn was then put and 
lost by a vote of 50 nays to 38 ayes. The House 
waited on the President at the close of the busi- 
ness of the day. On June 1 closed this long and 
memorable session, in which the assaults of the 
Republicans upon the administration were so per. 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 131 

sistent and embarrassing as to justify Wolcott's 
private note to Hamilton, April 29, 1796, that 
" unless a radical change of opinion can be effected 
in the Southern States, the existing establishments 
will not last eighteen months. The influence of 
Messrs. Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson must be 
diminished, or the public affairs will be brought to 
a stand." Gallatin seems to have had some doubts 
as to his reelection. As he did not reside in the 
Washington and Allegheny district, his name was 
not mentioned, and, to use his own words, he ex- 
pected to " be gently dropped without the parade 
of a resignation." In his distaste at separation 
from his wife, the desire to abandon public life 
grew upon him. But personal abuse of him in 
the newspapers exasperating his friends, he was 
taken up again in October, and he arrived on the 
scene, he says, too late to prevent it. He had no 
hope, however, of success, and was resolved to re- 
sign a seat to which he was in every way indiffer- 
ent. *' Ambition, love of power," he wrote to his 
wife on October 16, he had never felt, and he 
added, if vanity ever made one of the ingredients 
which impelled him to take an active part in pub- 
lic life, it had for many years altogether vanished 
away. He was nevertheless reelected by the dis- 
trict he had represented. 

The second session of the fourth Congress be- 
gan on December 5, 1796. At the beginning of 



132 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

this session Mr. Gallatin took the reins of the Re« 
publican party, and held them till its close. The 
position of the Federalists had been strengthened 
before the country by the energy of Washington, 
who, impatient of the delays which Great Britain 
opposed to the evacuation of the posts, marched 
troops to the frontier and obtained their surrender. 
Adet, the new French minister, had dashed the 
feeling of attachment for France by his impudent 
notice to the President that the dissatisfaction 
of France would last until the Executive of the 
United States should return to sentiments and 
measures more conformable to the interests and 
friendships of the two nations. In September 
Washington issued his Farewell Address, in which 
he used the famous warning against foreign com- 
plications, which, approved by the country, has 
since remained its policy; but neither the pros- 
pect of his final withdrawal from the political and 
official field, nor the advice of Jefferson to mod- 
erate their zeal, availed to calm the bitterness of 
the ultra Republicans in the House. 

The struggle over the answer to the President's 
message, which Fisher Ames on this occasion re- 
ported, was again renewed. An effort was made 
to strike out the passages complimentary to Wash- 
ington and expressing regret at his approaching 
retirement. Giles, who made the motion, went so 
far as to say that he ' wished him to retire, and 
that this was the moment for his retirement, that 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS 133 

the government could do very well without him, 
and that he would enjoy more happiness in his re- 
tirement than he possibly could in his present sit- 
uation.' For his part he did not consider Wash- 
ington's administration either "wise or firm," as 
the address said. Gallatin made a distinction be- 
tween the administration and the legislature, and 
in lieu of the words, wise, firm, and patriotic ad- 
ministration, proposed to address the compliment 
directly to the wisdom, firmness, and patriotism of 
Washington. But Ames defended his report, and 
it was adopted by a vote of 67 to 12. Gallatin 
voted with the majority, but Livingston, Giles, 
and Macon held out with the small band of dis- 
affected, among whom it is amusing also to find 
Andrew Jackson, who took his seat at this Con- 
gress to represent Tennessee, which had been ad- 
mitted as a State at the last session. ^ 

The indebtedness of the States to the general 
government, in the old balance sheet, on the pay- 
ment of which Gallatin insisted, was a subject of 
difference between the Senate and the House. 
Gallatin was appointed chairman of the committee 
of conference on the part of the House. The re- 
duction of the military establishment, which he 

1 Gallatin later described Jackson as he first saw him in his seat 
in the House : '* A tall, lank, uncouth looking individual, with long 
locks of hair hanging over his brows and face, while a queue hung 
down his back tied in an eelskin. The dress of this individual 
was singular, his manners and deportment that of a backwoodg* 
man." Baxtlett's Reminiscences of Gallatin, 



134 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

wished to bring down to the footing of 1792, was 
again insisted upon. Gallatin here ingeniously 
argued against the necessity for the number of 
men proposed, that it was a mere matter of opin- 
ion, and if it was a matter of opinion, it was not 
strictly necessary, because if necessary it was no 
longer a matter of opinion. Naval appropria- 
tions were also opposed, on the ground that a navy 
was prejudicial to commerce. Taxation, direct 
and indirect, and compensation to public officers 
were also subjects of debate at this session. On 
the subject of appropriations, general or special, 
he was uncompromising. He charged upon the 
Treasury Department that notwithstanding the 
distribution of the appropriations they thought 
themselves at liberty to take money from an item 
where there was a surplus and apply it to another 
where it was wanted. To check such irregularity, 
he secured the passage of a resolution ordering 
that " the several sums shall be solely applied to 
the objects for which they are respectively appro- 
priated," and tacked it to the appropriation bill. 
The Senate added an amendment removing the 
restriction, but Gallatin and Nicholas insisting on 
its retention, the House supported them by a vote 
of 52 to 36, and the Senate receded. 

Notwithstanding the apparent enthusiasm of the 
House in the early part of the session, when the 
tricolor of France, a present from the French 
government to the United States, was sent by 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 135 

Washington to Congress, to be deposited with 
the archives of the nation, French influence was 
on the wane. The common sense of the country 
got the better of its passion. In the reaction the 
Federalists regained the popular favor for a sea- 
son. 

Whatever latent sympathy the French people 
may have had for America as the nation which set 
the example of resistance to arbitrary rule, the 
French government certainly was moved by no 
enthusiasm for abstract rights. Its only object 
was to check the power of their ancient enemy, 
and deprive it of its empire beyond the seas. 
Nevertheless, France did contribute materially to 
American success. The American government 
and people acknowledged the value of her assist- 
ance, and, in spite of the prejudices of race, there 
was a strong bond of sympathy between the two 
nations ; and when, in her turn, France, in 1789, 
threw off the feudal yoke, she expected and she 
received the sympathy of America. Beyond this 
the government and the people of the United 
States could not and would not go. The position 
of France in the winter of 1796-97 was peculiar. 
She was at war with the two most formidable 
powers of Europe, — Austria and England, the 
one the mistress of Central Europe, the other su- 
preme ruler of the seas. The United States was 
the only maritime power which could be opposed 
to Great Britain. The French government de- 



136 ' ALBERT GALLATIN. 

termined to secure American aid by persuasion, 
if possible, otherwise by threat. The Directory 
indiscreetly appealed from the American govern- 
ment to the American people, forgetting that in 
representative governments these are one. Nor 
was the precedent cited in defence of this unusual 
proceeding — namely, the appeal of the American 
colonists to the people of England, Ireland, and 
Canada to take part in the struggle against the 
British government — pertinent ; for this was an 
appeal to sufferers under a common yoke. 

The enthusiasm awakened in France by the 
dramatic reception of the American flag, presented 
by Monroe to the French Convention, was some- 
what dampened by the cooler manner with which 
Congress received the tricolor, and was entirely 
dashed by the moderation of the reply of the 
House to Washington's message. The consent of 
the House to the appropriations to carry out the 
Jay Treaty decided the French Directory to sus- 
pend diplomatic relations with the United States. 
The marvellous successes of Bonaparte in Italy 
over the Austrian army encouraged Barras to 
bolder measures. The Directory not only refused 
to receive Charles C. Pinckney, the new American 
minister, but gave him formal notice to retire from 
French territory, and even threatened him with 
subjection to police jurisdiction. In view of this 
alarming situation, President Adams convened 
Congress. 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 137 

The first session of the fifth Congress began at 
Philadelphia on Monday, May 15, 1797. Jona- 
than Dayton was reelected speaker of the House. 
Some new men now appeared on the field of na- 
tional debate. Samuel Sewall and Harrison Gray 
Otis from Massachusetts, James A. Bayard from 
Delaware, and John Rutledge, Jr., from South 
Carolina. Madison and Fisher Ames did not re- 
turn, and their loss was serious to their respec- 
tive parties. Madison was incontestably the finest 
reasoning power, and Ames, as an orator, had no 
equal in our history until Webster appeared to 
dwarf all other fame beside his matchless elo- 
quence. Parties were nicely balanced, the nomi- 
nal majority being on the Federal side. Harper 
and Griswold retained the lead of the adminis- 
tration party. Giles still led the Republican op- 
position, but Gallatin was its main stay, always 
ready, always informed, and already known to be 
in the confidence of Jefferson, its moving spirit. 
The President's message was, as usual, the touch- 
stone of party. The debate upon it unmasked 
opinions. It was to all intents a war message, 
since it asked provision for war. The action of 
France left no alternative. The Republicans rec- 
ognized this as well as the Federalists. They 
must either respond heartily to the appeal of the 
Executive to maintain the national honor, or come 
under the charge they had brought against the 
Federalists of sympathy with an enemy. At first 



138 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

they sought a middle ground. Admitting that the 
rejection of our minister and the manner of it, if 
followed by a refusal of all negotiation on the sub- 
ject of mutual complaints, would put an end to 
every friendly relation between the two countries, 
they still hoped that it was only a suspension of 
diplomatic intercourse. Hence, in response to the 
assurance in the message that an attempt at nego- 
tiation would first be made, Nicholas moved an 
amendment in this vein. The Federalists opposed 
all interference with the Executive, but the Re- 
publicans took advantage of the debate to clear 
themselves of any taint of unpatriotic motives in 
their semi-opposition. The Federalists, repudiat- 
ing the charge of British influence, held up Genet 
to condemnation, as making an appeal to the peo- 
ple, Fauchet as fomenting an insurrection, and 
Adet as insulting the government. The Repub- 
licans retorted upon them Grenville's proposition 
to Mr. Pinckney, to support the American gov- 
ernment against the dangerous Jacobin factions 
which sought to overturn it. Gallatin deprecated 
bringing the conduct of foreign relations into de- 
bate, and hoped that the majority would resist the 
rashness which would drive the country into war ; 
he claimed that a disposition should be shown to 
put France on an equal footing with other nations. 
He would offer an ultimatum to France. Harper 
closed the debate in a powerful and brilliant 
Bpeech, opposing the amendment because he was 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 139 

for peace, and because peace could only be main- 
tained by showing France that we were preparing 
for war. So the rival leaders based their opposite 
action on a common ground. Dayton, the Speaker, 
now embodied Gallatin's idea in another form, and 
introduced a paragraph to the effect that "the 
House receive with the utmost satisfaction the in- 
formation of the President that a fresh attempt 
at negotiation will be instituted, and cherish the 
hope that a mutual spirit of conciliation and a dis- 
position on the part of the United States to place 
France on grounds as favorable as other countries 
will produce an accommodation compatible with 
the engagements, rights, and honor of our nation." 
Kittera, who was one of the committee on the 
address, then moved to add after " mutual spirit of 
conciliation " the clause, '' to compensate for any 
injury done to our neutral rights," etc. This both 
Harper and Gallatin opposed. Gallatin objected 
to being forced to this choice. To vote in its favor 
was a threat, if compensation were refused ; to 
vote against it was an abandonment of the claim. 
But he should oppose it, if forced to a choice. 
The Federal leaders insisted ; the previous ques- 
tion was ordered, 51 to 48. Here Mr. Gallatin 
showed himself the leader of his party. He stated 
that, the majority having determined the question, 
it was now a choice of evils, and he should vote 
for the amendment, and it was adopted, 78 ayes 
to 21 nays. Among the nays were Harper, the 



140 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Federalist leader, Giles, the nominal chief of the 
Republicans, and Nicholas, high in rank in that 
party. But the last word was not yet said. Ed- 
ward Livingston, who day by day asserted him- 
self more positively, denied that the conduct of 
the Executive had been " just and impartial to 
foreign nations," and moved to strike out the 
statement ; Gallatin was more moderate. Though 
he did not believe that in every instance the gov- 
ernment had been just and impartial, yet, gener- 
ally speaking, it had been so. He did not approve 
the British treaty, though he attributed no bad 
motives to its makers ; but he did not think that 
the laws respecting the subordinate departments 
of the executive and judiciary had been fairly ex- 
ecuted. He therefore would not consent to the 
sentence in the answer to the address, that the 
House did not hesitate to declare that " they 
would give their most cordial support to princi- 
ples so deliberately and uprightly established." 
What, he asked, were these principles ? Otis de- 
nounced this as an artful attempt to cast a cen- 
sure, not only on the Executive, but on all the 
departments of government, and Allen of Con- 
necticut declared " that there was American blood 
enough in the House to approve this clause and 
American accent enough to pronounce it." The 
rough prejudice of the Saxon against the Latin 
race showed itself in this language, and expressed 
the antagonism which Mr. Gallatin found to in- 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 141 

crease with his political progress. Both the res- 
olution and the amendment were defeated, 53 nays 
to 45 yeas. But when the final vote came upon 
the address, Mr. Gallatin, with that practical sense 
which made him the sheet anchor of his party in 
boisterous weather, voted with the Federalists and 
carried the moderate Republicans with him. The 
vote was 62 to 36. Among the irreconcilables the 
name of Edward Livingston is recorded. 

The answer of the President was a model of 
good sense. "No event can afford me so much 
cordial satisfaction as to conduct a negotiation with 
the French Republic to a removal of prejudices, 
a correction of errors, a dissipation of umbrages, 
an accommodation of all differences and a restora- 
tion of harmony and affection to the mutual satis- 
faction of both nations." 

This was the leading debate of the session. The 
situation was too grave for trifling. On June 5, 
two days after the President's reply, resolutions 
were introduced to put the country in a state of 
defence. Gallatin struggled hard to keep down 
the appropriations, and opposed the employment 
of the three frigates, which as yet had not been 
equipped or manned. If they got to sea, the 
President would have no option except to enforce 
the disputed articles of the French treaty. Gal- 
latin laid down also the law of search in accord- 
ance with the law of nations, and pointed out 
that resistance to search or capture by merchant-' 



142 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

men would not only lead to war, but was war. In 

the remaining acts of the session he was in favor 
of the defence of ports and harbors, with no pref- 
erence as to fortification on government territory ; 
in favor of a prohibition of the export of arms ; 
against raising an additional corps of artillery ; 
against expatriation of persons who took service 
under foreign governments. He opposed the duty 
on salt as unequal and unnecessary, and sought to 
have the loan, which became necessary, cut down 
to the exact sum of the deficiency in the appropri- 
ations ; and finally, on the impeachment of Wil- 
liam Blount, Senator of the United States, charged 
with having conspired with the British govern- 
ment to attack the Spaniards of St. Augustine, he 
pointed out the true method of procedure in the 
preparation of the bill of impeachment and the ar- 
raignment of the offender. 

The House adjourned on July 10. Jefferson 
complained of the weakness and wavering of this 
Congress, the majority of which shifted with the 
breeze of " panic or prowess." This was, how- 
ever, a very narrow view ; for at this session the 
House fairly represented the prevailing sentiment 
of the country,- which was friendly to France as 
a nation, but indignant with the insolence of her 
rulers. Gallatin, in the middle of the session, 
wrote to his wife that the Republicans " were 
beating and beaten by turns." He supposed that 
her father, Commodore Nicholson, * thought him 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 143 

too moderate and about to trim,' and then de^ 
clared, ' Moderation and firmness hath ever been, 
and ever will be, my motto.' Gallatin tells a story 
of his colleague from Pennsylvania, the old Anti 
FederaUst, Blair McClanachan, which shows the 
warmth of party feeling. They were both dining 
with President Adams, who entertained the mem- 
bers of Congress in turn. "McClanachan told 
the President that, by God, he would rather see 
the world annihilated than this country united 
with Great Britain ; that there would not remain 
a single king in Europe within six months, etc., 
all in the loudest and most decisive tone." 

Jefferson, who, as vice-president, presided over 
the debates in the Senate, had no cause to complain 
of any hesitation in that body, in which the Fed- 
eralists had regained a clear working majority, 
giving him no chance of a deciding vote. 

The second session of the fifth Congress began 
on November 13, 1797. The words of the Presi- 
dent's address, " We are met together at a most 
interesting period, the situation of the powers of 
Europe is singular and portentous," was not an 
idle phrase. The star of Bonaparte already domi- 
nated the political firmament. Europe lay pros- 
trate at the feet of the armies of the Directory. 
England, who was supposed to be the next object 
of attack, was staggering under the load of debt ; 
and the sailors of her channel fleet had risen in 



144 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

mutiny. Even the Federalists, the aristocrats as 
Mr. Gallatin delighted to call them, believed that 
she was gone beyond recovery. But the admirers 
of France were no better satisfied with the threat- 
ening attitude of the Directory towards America, 
and eagerly waited news of the reception given to 
the envoys extraordinary, Gerry, Pinckney, and 
Marshall, whom Adams with the consent of the 
Senate dispatched to Paris in the summer. Even 
Jefferson lost his taste for a French alliance, and 
almost wished there were " an ocean of fire be- 
tween the new and the old world." 

The tone of the President's address was con- 
sidered wise on all sides and it was agreed that 
the answer should be general and not a subject of 
contention. One of the members asked to be ex- 
cused from going with the House to the President, 
but Gallatin showed that, as there was no power 
to compel attendance, no formal excuse was nec- 
essary. When the motion was put as to whether 
they should go in a body as usual to present 
their answer, Mr. Gallatin voted in the negative. 
He nevertheless accompanied the members, who 
were received pleasantly by President Adams and 
" treated to cake and wine." 

Harper was made the chairman of the Ways 
and Means Committee. Though of high talents 
and a fine speaker, Gallatin found him a " great 
bungler " in the business of the House, a large 
share of which fell upon his own shoulders as well 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 145 

as the direction of the Republicans, of whom, not- 
withstanding the jealousy of Giles, he now was the 
acknowledged leader. As a member for Pennsyl- 
vania, Mr. Gallatin presented a memorial from 
the Quakers with regard to the arrest of fugitive 
slaves on her soil; the law of Pennsylvania declar- 
ing all men to be free who set foot in that State 
except only servants of members of Congress. 
There was already an opposition to hearing any 
petition with regard to slaves, but Gallatin insisted 
on the memorial taking the usual course of ref- 
erence to a committee. He directed the House 
also in the correct path in its legislation as to for- 
eign coins. It was proposed to take from them 
the quality of legal tender ; but he showed that it 
was policy not to discriminate against such coins 
until the mint could supply a sufficiency for the 
use of the country. In this argument he esti- 
mated the entire amount of specie in the United 
States at eight millions of dollars. At this early 
period in his political career he was acquiring that 
precise knowledge of the facts of American finance 
which later served to establish the principles upon 
which it is based. 

This session was noteworthy by reason of the 
first personal encounter on the floor of the House. 
It was between two Northern members, Lyon of 
Vermont and Griswold of Connecticut. Gallatin 
stood by Lyon, who was of his party, and showed 
that the House could not expel him, since it was 

10 



146 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

not at the time in organized session. As the Fed- 
eralists would not consent to censure Griswold, 
both offenders escaped even a formal reproof. 
The general bitterness of feeling which marked 
the summer session was greatly modified in the 
expectant state of foreign politics ; but the occa- 
sion for display of political divergence was not 
long delayed. 

On January 18, 1798, Mr. Harper, who led the 
business of the House, moved the appropriation 
for foreign intercourse. This was seized upon by 
the opposition to advance still further their line of 
attack by a limitation of the constitutional pre- 
rogative of the President. In addition to the 
usual salaries of the envoys to Great Britain and 
France, appropriations were asked for the posts 
at Madrid, Lisbon, and Berlin, which last Mr. 
Adams had designated as a first-class mission. 
The discussion on the powers of the President, 
and the extent to which they might be controlled 
by paring down the appropriations, lifted the de- 
bate from the narrow ground of economy in ad- 
ministration to the higher plane of constitutional 
powers. Nicholas opened on the Republican side 
by announcing that it was seasonable to bring 
back the establishment of the diplomatic corps to 
the footing it had been on until the year 1796. 
In all governments like our own he declared that 
there was a tendency to a union and consolidation 
of all its parts into the Executive, and the lim- 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 147 

itation and annexion of the parts with each 
other as settled by the Constitution would be de- 
stroyed by this influence unless there were a con- 
stant attention on the part of the Legislature to 
resist it. The appointment of a minister pleni- 
potentiary to Prussia, with which we had little or 
no commercial intercourse, offered an opportunity 
to determine this limitation. Harper said that 
this was a renewal of the old charge that foreign 
intercourse was unnecessary, and the old sugges- 
tion that our commerce ought to be given up or 
left to shift for itself. Mr. Gallatin laid down ex- 
treme theories which have never yet found prac- 
tical application. He took the question at once 
from party or personal ground by admitting that 
the government was essentially pure, its patronage 
not extensive, or its effect upon the legislative or 
any other branch of the government as yet ma- 
terial. The Constitution had placed the patron- 
age in the Executive. ' There he thought it was 
wisely placed. The Legislature would be more 
corrupt than the Executive were it placed with 
them. While not willing at once to give up po- 
litical foreign intercourse, he thought that it 
should by degrees be altogether declined. To it 
he ascribed the critical situation of the country. 
Commercial intercourse could be protected by the 
consular system. He then argued that the power 
to provide for expenses was the check intended 
by the Constitution. To this Griswold answered 



148 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

that this doctrine of checks contained more mis- 
chief than Pandora's box ; Bayard, that the 
checks were all directed to the Executive, and 
that they would check and counter-check until 
they stopped the wheels of government} When 
the President was manacled and at the mercy of 
the House they would be satisfied. He held the 
Executive to be the weakest branch of the gov- 
ernment, because its powers are defined ; but the 
limits of the House are undefined. As the de- 
bate advanced, Nicholas declared that the purpose 
of the Republicans was to define the executive 
power and to put an end to its extension through 
their power over appropriations. Later he would 
bring in a motion to do away with all foreign in- 
tercourse. 

Goodrich answered that the office of foreign 
minister was created by the Constitution itself, 
and the power of appointment was placed in the 
President. The House might speculate upon the 
propriety of doing away with all intercourse with 
foreign powers, but could not decide on it, for po- 
litical intercourse did not depend on the sending of 
ministers abroad. Foreign ministers would come 
here and the Constitution required their recep- 
tion. The idea that we should have no foreign 
intercourse was taken from Washington's Fare- 
well Address, but his words applied only to alli- 

1 The phrase " stop the wheels of government " originated with 
"Peter Porcupine " (William Cobbett), and was on every tongue. 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 149 

ances offensive and defensive. If ministers were 
abandoned, envoys extraordinary must be sent, a 
much more dangerous practice ; the only choice 
vras between ministers and spies. In conclusion 
he accused the Republicans of making one contixi- 
uous attack upon the administration, and charged 
that the opposition to the appropriation bill was 
not a single measure, but connected with others, 
and intended to clog the wheels of government. 

The purpose of the Republicans being thus de- 
clared by Nicholas and squarely met by the friends 
of the administration, Mr. Gallatin, March 1, 
1798, summed up the opposition arguments in an 
elaborate speech three hours and a quarter in 
length. He denied the novel doctrine that each 
department had checks within itself, but none 
upon others ; he claimed that the principle of 
checks is admitted in all mixed governments. 
Commercial intercourse, he said, is regulated by 
the law of nations, by the municipal law of re- 
spective countries and by treaties of commerce, 
the application of which is the province of con- 
suls. What advantages, he asked, had our com- 
mercial treaties given us, either that with France 
or that with England? He excepted that part 
of the treaty with Great Britain which arranged 
our difference with that power, as foreign to the 
discussion. He claimed that the restriction which 
we had laid upon ourselves by our commercial 
treaties had been attended with political conse- 



160 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

quences fatal to our tranquillity. Washington 
had advised a separation of our political from our 
commercial relations. The message of President 
Adams intimated a different policy and alluded to 
the balance of power in Europe as not to be for- 
gotten or neglected. Interesting as that balance 
may be to Europe, how does it concern us ? We 
shall never throw our weight into the scale. Pass- 
ing from this to the danger of the absorption of 
powers by the Executive, he cited the examples 
of the Cortes of Spain, the Etats Generaux of 
France, the Diets of Denmark. In all these coun- 
tries the Executive is in possession of legislative, 
of absolute powers. The fate of the European re- 
publics was similar. Venice, Switzerland, and 
Holland had shown the legislative powers merg- 
ing into the executive. The object of the Consti- 
tution of the United States is to divide and distrib- 
ute the powers of government. With uncontrolled 
command over the purse of the people the Execu- 
tive tends to prodigality, to taxes, and to wars. 
He closed with a hope that a fixed determination 
to prevent the increase of the national expendi- 
ture, and to detach the country from any connec- 
tion with European politics, would tend to recon- 
cile parties, promote the happiness of America, and 
conciliate the affection of every part of the Union. 
No such admirable exposition of the true Ameri- 
can doctrine of non-interference with European 
politics had at that time been heard in Congress. 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 151 

In reply, Harper insisted on the admission that 
the purpose of the amendment of Nicholas was to 
restrain the President ; that it was a question of 
power, not of money. Mr. Gallatin admitted the 
right of appointment, but denied that the House 
was bound to appropriate. Harper rejoined that 
the offices did not originate with the President but 
with the Constitution, and that they could not be 
destroyed by the action of the House, and, leaving 
the general ground of debate, made a brilliant at- 
tack upon the Republicans as revolutionists, whom 
he divided into three classes : the philosophers, 
the Jacobins, and the sans-culottes. The philoso- 
phers are most to be dreaded. " They declaim 
with warmth on the miseries of mankind, the 
abuses of government, and the vices of rulers ; all 
which they engage to remove, providing their the- 
ories should once be adopted. They talk of the 
perfectibility of man and of the dignity of his na- 
ture ; and, entirely forgetting what he is, de- 
claim perpetually about what he should be.'* 
Of Jacobins there are plenty. They profit by 
the labors of others ; tyrants in power, demagogues 
when not. Fortunately for America there are few 
or no sans-culottes among her inhabitants. Jeffer- 
son, he said, returned from France a missionary 
to convert Americans to the new faith, and he 
charged that the system of French alliance and 
war with Great Britain by the United States was 
a part of the scheme of the French revolution- 



152 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ists, and was imported into this country. Gal- 
latin and his friends he regarded in the light of 
an enemy who has commenced a siege against the 
fortress of the Constitution. 

The restricting amendment was lost, and the 
bill passed by a vote of 52 yeas to 43 nays. 
Nor is it easy to see how the theory of Mr. Gal- 
latin with regard to diplomatic relations could 
have been applied successfully with the existing 
channels of intercourse. Now that the ocean cable 
brings governments into direct relation with each 
other, there is a tendency to restrict the authority 
of ambassadors, for whom there is no longer need, 
and the entire system will no doubt soon disap- 
pear. Mr. Gallatin's speech was the delight of 
his party and his friends. He was called upon 
to write it out, and two thousand copies of it were 
circulated as the best exposition of Republican 
doctrine. 

Early in February the President informed Con- 
gress of certain captures and outrages committed 
by a French privateer within the limits of the 
United States, including the burning of an Eng- 
lish merchantman in the harbor of Charleston. On 
March 19, in a further special message, he commu- 
nicated dispatches from the American envoys in 
France, and also informed Congress that he should 
withdraw his order forbidding merchant vessels to 
sail in an armed condition. A collision might, 
therefore, occur at any moment. 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 153 

On March 27, 1798, a resolution was introduced 
that it is not now expedient for the United States 
to resort to war against the French Republic; a 
second, to restrict the arming of merchant vessels ; 
and a third, to provide for the protection of the 
sea-coast and the internal defence of the country. 
Speaking to the first resolution, Mr. Gallatin said 
that the United States had arrived at a crisis at 
which a stand must be made, when the House 
must say whether it will resort to war or preserve 
peace. If to war, the expense and its evils must 
be met ; if peace continue, then the country must 
submit : in either case American vessels would be 
taken. It was a mere matter of calculation which 
course would best serve the interest and happiness 
of tho country. If he could separate defensive 
from offensive war, he should be in favor of it ; but 
he could not make the distinction, and therefore 
he should be in favor of measures of peace. The 
act of the President was a war measure. Mem- 
bers of the House so designated it in letters to 
their constituents. 

On April 2 the President was requested to 
communicate the instructions and dispatches from 
the envoys extraordinary, mention of which he had 
made in his message of March 19. Gallatin sup- 
ported the call. He said that the President was 
not afraid of communicating information, as he 
had shown in the preceding session, and that to 
withhold it would endanger the safety of our 



154 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

commerce, or prevent the happy issue of negotia- 
tion. On April 8 Mr. Gallatin presented a peti- 
tion against hazarding the neutrality and peace of 
the nation by authorizing private citizens to arm 
and equip vessels. This was signed by forty mem- 
bers of the Pennsylvania Legislature. Protests of 
a similar character were presented from other parts 
of the country. On the same day the President 
sent in the famous X, Y, Z dispatches, in confi- 
dence. These letters represented the names of 
Hottinguer, Bellamy, and Hauteval, the agents of 
Talleyrand, the foreign minister of the First Con- 
sul, which were withheld by the President. The 
mysterious negotiations contained a distinct de- 
mand by Talleyrand of a douceur of 1,200,000 
livres to the French officials as a condition of 
peace. The effect was immediately to strengthen 
the administration, Dayton, the Speaker, passing 
to the ranks of the Federalists. 

On the 18th the Senate sent down a bill author- 
izing the President to procure sixteen armed ves- 
sels to act as convoys. Gallatin still held firm. 
He admitted that from the beginning of the Euro- 
pean contest the belligerent powers had disre- 
garded the law of nations and the stipulations of 
treaties, but he still opposed the granting of armed 
convoys, which would lead to a collision. Let us 
not, he said, act on speculative grounds ; if our 
present situation is better than war, let us keep it. 
Better even, he said, suffer the French to go on 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 155 

with their depredations than to take any step 
which may lead to war. 

Allen of Connecticut read a passage from the 
dispatches which envenomed the debate. By it 
one of the French agents appears to have warned 
the American envoys that they were mistaken in 
supposing that an exposition of the unreasonable 
demands of France would unite the people of 
the United States. He said, " You should know 
that the diplomatic skill of France and the means 
she possesses in your country are sufficient to en- 
able her, with the French party in America, to 
throw the blame which will attend the rupture of 
the negotiations on the Federalists^ as you term 
yourselves, but on the British party^ as France 
terms you, and you may assure yourselves this 
will be done." Allen then charged upon Gallatin 
that his language was that of a foreign agent. 
Gallatin replied that the representatives of the 
French Republic in this country had shown them- 
selves to be the worst diplomatists that had ever 
been sent to it, and he asked why the gentlemen 
who did not come forward with a declaration of 
war (though they were willing to go to war with- 
out the declaration) charge their adversaries with 
meaning to submit to France. France might de- 
clare war or give an order to seize American vessels, 
but as long as she did not, some hope remained 
that the state of peace might not be broken ; and 
he said in conclusion " that, notwithstanding all 



166 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

the violent charges and personal abuse which had 
been made against him, it would produce no dif- 
ference in his manner of acting, neither prevent 
him from speaking against every measure which 
he thought injurious to the public interest, nor, on 
the other hand, inflame his mind so as to induce 
him to oppose measures which he might heretofore 
have thought proper." 

The war feeling ran high in the country ; " Mil- 
lions for defence, but not one cent for tribute," ^ 
was the popular cry. On May 28 Mr. Harper in- 
troduced a bill to suspend commercial intercourse 
with France. Gallatin thought this a doubtful 
measure. Its avowed purpose was to distress 
France in the West Indies, but he said that in six 
months that entire trade would be by neutral ves- 
sels. In the discussion on the bill to regulate the 
arming of merchant vessels, he showed that it 
was the practice of neutral European nations to 
allow such vessels to arm, but not to regulate their 
conduct. Bonds are required in cases of letter of 
marque, and the merchant who arms is bound not 
to break the laws of nations or the agreements of 
treaties. Restriction was therefore unnecessary. 
Government should not interfere. Commercial 
intercourse with France was suspended June 13. 

In the pride of their new triumph and the in- 
tensity of their personal feeling the Federalists 
overleaped their mark, and began a series of 

1 Charles C. Pinckney, when Ambassador to France, 1796. 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 157 

measures which ultimately cost them the posses- 
sion of the government and their political exist- 
ence. The first of these was the Sedition Bill, 
which Jefferson believed to be aimed at Gallatin 
in person. Mr. Gallatin met it at its inception 
with a statement of the constitutional objections, 
viz., 1st, that there was no power to make such a 
law, and 2d, the special provision in the Constitu- 
tion that the writ of habeas corpus shall not be 
suspended except in cases of rebellion and in- 
vasion. There was neither. The second, the 
Alien Bill, gave the President power to expel 
from the country all aliens. Over this measure 
Gallatin and Harper had hot words. Gallatin 
charged upon Harper not only a misrepresen- 
tation of the arguments of his opponents, but an 
arraignment of the motives of others, while claim- 
ing all purity for his own. Harper answered in 
words which show that Gallatin, for once, had 
met warmth with warmth, and anger with anger. 
When, Harper said, a gentleman, who is usually 
so cool, all at once assumes such a tone of passion 
as to forget all decorum of language, it would 
seem as if the observation had been properly ap> 
plied. On the vote to strike out the obnoxious 
sections, the Federalists defeated their antago- 
nists, and on June 21 the bill itself was passed 
with all its odious features by 46 to 40. 

On June 21 President Adams sent in a message 
with letters from Gerry, who had remained at 



158 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Paris after the return of Marshall and Pinckney, 
on the subject of a loan. They contained an in- 
timation from Talleyrand that he was ready to 
resume negotiations. In this message Adams said, 
"I will never send another minister to France 
without assurances that he will be received, re- 
spected, and honored as the representative of a 
great, free, powerful, and independent nation." 
On the 25th an act was passed authorizing the 
commanders of merchant vessels to defend them- 
selves against search and seizure under regula- 
tions by the President. On June 30 a further 
act authorized the purchase and equipment of 
twelve vessels as an addition to the naval arma- 
ment. To all intents and purposes a state of 
war between the two countries already existed. 

The 4th of July (1798) was celebrated with 
unusual enthusiasm all over the United States, 
and the black cockade was generally worn. This 
was the distinctive badge of the Federalists, and a 
response to the tricolor which Adet had recom- 
mended all French citizens to wear in 1794. 

On July 5 a resolution was moved to appoint a 
committee to consider the expediency of declaring, 
by legislative act, the state of relations between 
the United States and the French Republic. Mr. 
Gallatin asked if a declaration of war could not 
be moved as an amendment, but the Speaker, Mr. 
Dayton, made no reply. Mr. Gallatin objected 
that Congress could not declare a state of facta 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 159 

by a legislative act. But this view, if tenable 
then, has long since been abandoned. In witness 
of which it is only necessary to name the cel- 
ebrated resolution of the Congress of 1865 with 
regard to the recognition of a monarchy in Mex- 
ico. July 6 the House went into committee of 
the whole on the state of the Union to con- 
sider a bill sent down by the Senate abrogating 
the treaty with France. The bill was passed on 
the 16th by a vote of 47 ayes to 37 nays, Gallatin 
voting in the negative. The House adjourned the 
the same day. 

While thus engaged in debates which called 
into exercise his varied information and displayed 
not only the extent of his learning but his re- 
markable powers of reasoning and statement, Mr. 
Gallatin never lost sight of reform in the adminis- 
tration of the finances of the government. To the 
success of his efforts to hold the Treasury Depart- 
ment to a strict conformity with his theory of 
administration, Mr. Wolcott, the Secretary, gave 
ample if unwilling testimony. To Hamilton he 
wrote on April 5, 1798, " The management of 
the Treasury becomes more and more difficult. 
The Legislature will not pass laws in gross ; their 
appropriations are minute. Gallatin, to whom 
they yield, is evidently intending to break down 
this department by charging it with an impracti- 
cable detail.'* 

During these warm discussions Gallatin rarely 



160 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

lost his self-control. Writing to his old friend Les- 
dernier at this period, he said, " You may remem- 
ber I am blessed with a very even temper ; it has 
not been altered by time or politics." 

The third session of the fifth Congress opened 
on December 3, 1798. On the 8th, when the Pres- 
ident was expected, Lieutenant-general Washing- 
ton and Generals Pinckney and Hamilton entered 
the hall and took their places on the right of the 
Speaker's chair. They had been recently ap- 
pointed to command the army of defence. 

The President's speech announced no change in 
the situation. " Nothing," he said, " is discov- 
erable in the conduct of France which ought to 
change or relax our measures for defence. On the 
contrary, to extend and invigorate them is our true 
policy. An efficient preparation for war can alone 
insure peace. It must be left to France, if she 
is indeed desirous of accommodation, to take the 
requisite steps. The United States will steadily 
observe the maxims by which they have hitherto 
been governed." The reply to this patriotic sen- 
timent was unanimously agreed to, and was most 
grateful to Adams, who thanked the House for 
it as " consonant to the characters of represen- 
tatives of a great and free people." 

On December 27 a peculiar resolution was in- 
troduced to punish the usurpation of the exeC' 
utive authority of the government of the United 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 161 

States in carrying on correspondence with the gov- 
ernment of any foreign prince or state. Gallatin 
thought this resolution covered too much ground. 
The criminality of such acts did not lie in their 
being usurpations, but in the nature of the crime 
committed. There was no authority in the Con- 
stitution for a grant of such a power to the Pres-- 
ident. To afford aid and comfort to the enemy 
was treason, but there was no war, and therefore 
no enemy. He claimed the right to himself and 
others to do all in his power to secure a peace, 
even by correspondence abroad, and he would not 
admit that the ground taken by the friends of the 
measure was a proper foundation for a general 
law. A committee was, however, appointed, in 
spite of this remonstrance, to consider the pro- 
priety of including in the general act all persons 
who should commence or carry on a correspond- 
ence, by a vote of 65 to 23. A bill was reported 
on January 9, when Gallatin endeavored to at- 
tach a proviso that the law should not operate 
upon persons seeking justice or redress from for- 
eign governments ; but his motion was defeated 
by a vote of 48 to 37. Later, however, a resolu- 
tion of Mr. Parker, that nothing in the act should 
be construed to abridge the rights of any citizen 
to apply for such redress, was adopted by a vote of 
69 yeas to 27 nays. On this vote Harper voted 
yea. Griswold, Otis, Bayard, and Goodrich were 
found among the nays. Gallatin succeeded in 
11 



162 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

carrying an amendment defining the bill, after 
which it was passed by a vote of 58 to 36. 

Towards the close of January, 1799, a bill was 
brought in authorizing the President to discon- 
tinue the restraints of the act suspending inter- 
course with the French West India Islands, when- 
ever any persons in authority or command should 
so request. This was to invite a secession of the 
French colonies from the mother country. Gal- 
latin deprecated any action which might induce 
rebellion against authority, or lead to self-govern- 
ment among the people of the islands who were 
unfit for it. Moreover, such action would remove 
still further every expectation of an accommoda- 
tion with France. The bill was passed by a vote 
of 65 to 37. He objected to the bill to authorize 
the President to suspend intercourse with Spanish 
and Dutch ports which should harbor French pri- 
vateers, as placing an unlimited power to interdict 
commerce in the hands of the Executive. The 
bill was carried by 55 to 37. On the question of 
the augmentation of the navy he opposed the 
building of the seventy -fours. 

In February Edward Livingston presented a 
petition from aliens, natives of Ireland, against 
the Alien and Sedition laws. Numerous similar 
petitions followed ; one was signed by 18,000 per- 
sons in Pennsylvania alone. To postpone consid- 
eration of the subject, the Federalists sent these 
papers to a select committee, against the protests 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS, 163 

of Livingston and Gallatin. This course was the 
more peculiar because of the reference of peti- 
tions of a similar character in the month previous 
to the committee of the whole. The Federalists 
were abusing their majority, and precipitating 
their unexpected but certain ruin. One more ef- 
fort was made to repeal the offensive penal act; 
the constitutional objection was again pleaded, but 
the repeal was defeated by a vote of 52 in the 
affirmative. Mr. Gallatin opposed these laws in 
all their stages, but, failing in this, persistently en- 
deavored to make them as good as possible before 
they passed. Jefferson later said that nothing 
could obliterate from the recollection of those who 
were witnesses of it the courage of Gallatin in 
the " Days of Terror." ^ The vote of thanks to 
Mr. Dayton, the Speaker, was carried by a vote 
of 40 to 22. On March 3, 1800, this Congress 
adjourned. 

The sixth Congress met at Philadelphia on 
December 2, 1799. The Federalists were returned 
in full majority. Among the new members of 
the House, John Marshall and John Randolph 
appeared for Virginia. Theodore Sedgwick was 
chosen speaker. President Adams came down to 
the House on the 3d and made the usual speech. 
The address in reply, reported by a committee of 

1 Jefferson to William Duane, March 28, 1881. Jefferson's 
Works^ vol. V. p. 574. 



164 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

which Marshall was chairman, was agreed to with- 
out amendment. Adams was again delighted with 
the very respectful terms adopted at the " first as- 
sembly after a fresh election, under the strong im- 
pression of the public opinion and national sense 
at this interesting and singular crisis." At this 
session it was the sad privilege of Marshall to an- 
nounce the death of Washington, " the Hero, the 
Sage, and the Patriot of America." In the shadow 
of this great grief, party passion was hushed for a 
while. 

Gallatin again led the Republican opposition ; 
Nicholas and Macon were his able lieutenants. 
The line of attack of the Republicans was clear. 
If war could be avoided, the growing unpopu- 
larity of the Alien and Sedition laws would surely 
bring them to power. The foreign-born voter was 
already a factor in American politics. In January 
the law providing for an addition to the army was 
(Suspended. Macon then moved the repeal of the 
Sedition Law. He took the ground that it was a 
measure of defence. Bayard adroitly proposed as 
an amendment that " the offences therein specified 
shall remain punishable as at common law, pro- 
vided that upon any prosecution it shall be lawful 
for the defendant to give as his defence the truth 
of the matter charged as a libel." Gallatin called 
upon the chair to declare the amendment out of 
order, as intended to destroy the resolution, but 
the Speaker declined, and the amendment was car- 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 165 

tied by a vote of 51 to 47. The resolution thus 
amended was then defeated by a vote of 87 to 1. 
The RepubHcans preferred the odious act in its 
original form rather than accept the Federal in- 
terpretation of it. 

On February 11, 1800, a bill was introduced 
into Congress further to suspend commercial in- 
tercourse with France. It passed the House after 
a short debate by a vote of 68 yeas to 28 nays. 
On this bill the Republican leaders were divided. 
Nicholson, Macon, and Randolph opposed it ; but 
Gallatin, separating from his friends, carried 
enough of his party with him to secure its pas- 
sage. Returned by the Senate with amendments, 
it was again objected to by Macon as fatal to the 
interests of the Southern States, but the House 
resolved to concur by a vote of 50 to 36. 

In March the country was greatly excited by 
the news of an engagement on the 1st of Febru- 
ary, off Guadaloupe, between the United States 
frigate Constellation, thirty-eight guns, and a 
French national frigate, La Vengeance, fifty-four 
guns. The House of Representatives called on 
the Secretary of the Navy for information, and, 
by 84 yeas to 4 nays, voted a gold medal to Cap- 
tain Truxton, who commanded the American 
ship. John Randolph's name is recorded in the 
negative. 

Notwithstanding this collision, the relations of 
the United States and France were gradually as- 



166 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

suming a kindlier phase. The Directory had 
sought to drive the American government into 
active measures against England. Bonaparte, 
chosen First Consul, at once adopted a concil- 
iatory tone. Preparing for a great continental 
struggle, he was concentrating the energies and 
the powers of France. In May Mr. Parker called 
the attention of the House to this change of con- 
duct in the French government and offered a res- 
olution instructing the Committee on Commerce 
to inquire if any amendments to the Foreign In- 
tercourse Act were necessary. Macon moved to 
amend so that the inquiry should be whether it 
were not expedient to repeal the act. Gallatin op- 
posed the resolution on the ground that it was 
highly improper to take any measures at the 
present time which would change the defensive 
system of the country. The resolution was nega- 
tived, — 43 nays to 40 yeas. 

One singular opposition of Gallatin is recorded 
towards the close of the session ; the Committee 
on the Treasury Department reported an amend- 
ment to the act of establishment, providing that 
the Secretary of the Treasury shall lay before 
Congress, at the commencement of every session, 
a report on finance with plans for the support of 
credit, etc. Gallatin and Nicholas opposed this 
bill, because it came down from the Senate, which 
had no constitutional right to originate a money 
bill ; but Griswold and Harper at once took the 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 167 

correct ground that it was not a bill, but a report 
on the state of the finances, in which the Senate 
had an equal share with the House. The bill was 
passed by a vote of 43 to 39. It is worthy of 
note that the first report on the state of the 
finances communicated under this act was by Mr. 
Gallatin himself the next year, and that it was 
sent in to the Senate. The House adjourned on 
May 14, 1800. 

The second session of the sixth Congress was 
held at the city of Washington, to which the seat 
of government had been removed in the summer 
interval. After two southerly migrations they 
were now definitively established at a national 
capital. The session opened on November 17, 
1800. On the 22d President Adams congratu- 
lated Congress on "the prospect of a residence 
not to be changed." The address of the House 
in reply was adopted by a close vote. 

The situation of foreign relations was changed. 
The First Consul received the American envoys 
cordially, and a commercial convention was made 
but secured ratification by the Senate only after 
the elimination of an article and a limitation of its 
duration to eight years. While the bill was pend- 
ing in the Senate, Mr. Samuel Smith moved to 
continue the act to suspend commercial inter- 
course with France. Mr. Gallatin opposed this 
motion ; at the last session he had voted for this 



168 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

bill because there was only the appearance of a 
treaty. Now that the precise state of negotiation 
was known, why should the House longer leave 
this matter to the discretion of the President? 
The House decided to reject the indiscreet bill by 
a vote of 59 to 37. An effort was also made to 
repeal a part of the Sedition Law, and continue 
the rest in force, but the House refused to order 
the engrossing of the bill, taking wise counsel of 
Dawson, who said that, supported by the justice 
and policy of their measures, the approaching ad* 
ministration would not need the aid of either the 
alien, sedition, or common law. The opponents 
of the bill would not consent to any modification. 
The last scenes of the session were of exciting in- 
terest. 

Freed from the menace of immediate war, the 
people of plain common sense recognized that 
the friendship of Great Britain was more danger- 
ous than the enmity of France. They dreaded the 
fixed power of an organized aristocracy far more 
than the ephemeral anarchy of an ill-ordered de- 
mocracy ; they were more averse to class distinc- 
tions protected by law than even to military des- 
potism which destroyed all distinctions, and they 
preferred, as man always has preferred and always 
will prefer, personal to political equality. The 
Alien and Sedition laws had borne their legiti- 
mate fruit. The foreign-born population held the 
balance of power; a general vote would have 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 169 

shown a large Republican or, it is more correct to 
say, anti-Federalist majority. But the popular 
will could not be thus expressed. Under the old 
system each elector in the electoral college cast 
his ballot for president and vice-president without 
designation of his preference as to who should fill 
the first place. New England was solid for 
Adams, who, however, had little strength beyond 
the limits of this Federal stronghold. New York 
and the Southern States with inconsiderable ex- 
ceptions were Republican. Pennsylvania was so 
divided in the Legislature that her entire vote 
would have been lost but for a compromise which 
gave to the Republicans one vote more than to 
the Federalists. Adams being out of the question, 
the election to the first place lay between Jeffer- 
son and Burr, both Republicans. The Federalists, 
therefore, had their option between the two Re- 
publican candidates, and the result was within the 
reach of that most detestable of combinations, a 
political bargain. Mr. Gallatin's position in this 
condition of affairs was controlling. His loyalty 
to Jefferson was unquestioned, while Burr was the 
favorite of the large Republican party in New 
York whose leaders were Mr. Gallatin's immedi- 
ate friends and warm supporters. Both Jefferson 
and Burr were accused of bargaining to secure 
enough of the Federalist vote to turn the scale. 
That Mr. Jefferson did make some sacrifice of his 
independence is now believed. Whether Mr. Gal- 



170 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

latin was aware of any such compromise is uncer- 
tain. If such bargain were made, General Sam- 
uel Smith was the channel of arrangement, and in 
view of the inexplicable and ignominious defer- 
ence of Jefferson and Madison to his political de- 
mands, there is little doubt that he held a secret 
power which they dared not resist. Gallatin felt 
it, suffered from it, protested against it, but sub- 
mitted to it. 

The fear was that Congress might adjourn 
without a conclusion. To meet this emergency Mr. 
Gallatin devised a plan of balloting in the House, 
which he communicated to Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 
Nicholas. It stated the objects of the Federalists 
to be, 1st, to elect Burr ; 2d, to defeat the present 
election and order a new one ; 3d, to assume exec- 
utive power during the interregnum. These he 
considers, and suggests alternative action in case of 
submission or resistance on the part of the Repub- 
licans. The Federalists, holding three branches 
of government, viz., the presidency, a majority in 
the Senate, and a majority in the House, might 
pass a law declaring that one of the great officers 
designated by the Constitution should act as Pres- 
ident pro tempore, which would be constitutional. 
But while Mr. Gallatin in this paragraph admit- 
ted such a law to be constitutional, in the next he 
argued that the act of the person designated by 
law, or of the President pro tempore, assuming the 
power is clearly " unconstitutional." By this in- 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 171 

genious process of reasoning, to which the strict 
constructionists have always been partial, it might 
be unconstitutional to carry out constitutional law. 
The assumption of such power was therefore, Mr. 
Gallatin held, usurpation, to be resisted in one of 
two ways ; by declaring the interval till the next 
session of Congress an interregnum, allowing all 
laws not immediately connected with presidential 
powers to take their course, and opposing a silent 
resistance to all others ; or by the Republicans as- 
suming the executive power by a joint act of the 
two candidates, or by the relinquishment of all 
claims by one of them. On the other hand, the 
proposed outlines of Republican conduct were, 
1st, to persevere in voting for Mr. Jefferson ; 2d, 
to use every endeavor to defeat any law on the 
subject ; 3d, to try to persuade Mr. Adams to re- 
fuse his consent to any such law and not to call 
the Senate on any account if there should be no 
choice by the House. 

In a letter written in 1848 Mr. Gallatin said 
that a provision by law that if there should be 
no election the executive power be placed in the 
hands of some public officer was a revolutionary 
act of usurpation which would have been put 
down by force if necessary. It was threatened 
that, if any man should be thus appointed pres- 
ident he should instantly be put to death, and 
bodies of men were said to be organized, in Mary- 
land and Virginia, ready to march to Washington 



172 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

on March 4 for that purpose. The fears of violence 
were so great that to Governor McKean of Penn- 
sylvania was submitted the propriety of having a 
body of militia in readiness to reach the capital 
in time to prevent civil war. From this letter of 
Mr. Gallatin, then the last surviving witness of 
the election, only one conclusion can be drawn : 
that the Republicans would have preferred violent 
resistance to temporary submission, even though 
the officer exercising executive powers was ap- 
pointed in accordance with law. Fortunately for 
the young country there was enough good sense 
and patriotism in the ranks of the Federalists to 
avert the danger. 

On the suggestion of Mr. Bayard it was agreed 
by a committee of sixteen members, one from 
each State, that if it should appear that the two 
persons highest on the list, Jefferson and Burr, 
had an equal number of votes, the House should 
immediately proceed in their own chamber to 
choose the president by ballot, and should not ad- 
journ until an election should have been made. 
On the first ballot there was a tie between Jef- 
ferson and Burr ; the dead-lock continued until 
February 17, when the Federalists abandoned the 
contest, and Mr. Jefferson received the requisite 
number of votes. Burr, having the second num- 
ber, became vice-president. 

Mr. Gallatin's third congressional term closed 
with this Congress. In his first term he asserted 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 173 

his power and took his place in the councils of 
the party. In his second, he became its acknowl- 
edged chief. In the third, he led its forces to final 
victory. But for his opposition, war would have 
been declared against France, and the Republican 
party would have disappeared in the political 
chasm. But for his admirable management, Mr. 
Jefferson would have been relegated to the study 
of theoretical government on his Monticello farm, 
or to play second fiddle at the capitol to the 
music of Aaron Burr. 

In the foregoing analysis of the debates and 
resolutions of Congress, and the recital of the part 
taken in them by Mr. Gallatin, attention has only 
been paid to such of the proceedings as concerned 
the interpretation of the Constitution or the forms 
of administration with which Mr. Gallatin inter- 
ested himself. From the day of his first appear- 
ance he commanded the attention and the respect 
of his fellows. The leadership of his party fell 
to him as of course. It was not grasped by him. 
He was never a p artisan. He never waived his 
entire independence of judgment. His ingenuity 
an d adj-oitne ss never tempted him to un tenable 
positions^ Hence his party followed him with 
implicit confidence. i!et while the debates of 
C ongress, imperfectly reported as they seem' to be 
in its annal s, show the deference paid to him by 
t he Rep ublican leaders, and display the great 
share he took in the definition of powers and 



r 



174 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

of administration as n ow understood^ his name 
i s hardly mentioned in hi story. Jefferson and 
Madison became Presidents of t he United Btates. 
They, with Gallati n, formed th e triumvirate which 
r uled the country for sixteen years. Gallatin was 
t he youngest of th e three.^ To this^ olitical com- 
binationJji^llatiiL broug ht a knowledge of consti- 
tutional la w equal^to their own, a knowledge of 
intern ational law superior t o that ot either, and 
a T habit of practical administration of which^they 
h ad no co nce£tion. The itepubiican party lost 
its chief when Gallatin left the House ; from that 
day it floundered to its close. 

In the balance of opinion there are no certain 
weights and measures. The preponderance of 
causes cannot be precisely ascertained. The free- 
dom which the people of the United States enjoy 
to-day is not the work of any one party. Those 
who are descended from its original stock, and 
those whom its free institutions have since in- 
vited to full membership, owe that freedom to 
two causes : the one, formulated by Hamilton, 
a strong, central power, which, deriving its force 
from the people, maintains its authority at home 
and secures respect abroad ; the other, the spirit 
of liberty which found expression in the famous 
declaration of the rights of man. This influence 
Jefferson represented. It taught the equality of 
man ; not equality before the law alone, nor yet 
1 Jefferson was bom in 1743, Madison in 1751, Gallatin in 1761. 



MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 176 

political equality, but that absolute freedom from 
/ class distinction which is true social equality; in 
, a word, mutual respect. But for Hamilton we 
might be a handful of petty states, in discordant 
confederation or perpetual war ; but for Jefferson, 
a prey to the class jealousy which unsettles the 
social relations and threatens the political exist- 
ence of European states. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SECEETARY OF THE TREASURY. 
FUNDING. 

The material comfort of every people depends 
more immediately upon the correct management of 
its finances than upon any other branch of govern- 
ment. Haute finance^ to use a French expression 
for which there is no English equivalent, demands 
in its application the faculties of organization and 
administration in their highest degree. The rela- 
tions of money to currency and credit, and their 
relations to industry and agriculture, or in modern 
phrase of capital to labor, fall within its scope. 
The history of France, the nation which has best 
understood and applied true principles of finance, 
supplies striking examples of the benefits a finance 
minister of the first order renders to his country, 
and the dangers of false theories. The marvellous 
restoration of its prosperity by the genius of Col- 
bert, the ruin caused by the malign sciolism of 
Law, and again, the revival of credit by the skill 
of Necker, are familiar to all students of political 
economy. Nor has the United States been less 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 177 

favored. The names of Morris, Hamilton, Galla- 
tin, and Chase shine with equal lustre. 

Morris, the financier of the Revolution, was 
called to the administration of the money depart- 
ment of the United States government when there 
was no money to administer. Before his appoint- 
ment as '^ Financier " the expenses of the govern- 
ment, military and civil, had been met by expe- 
dients ; by foreign loans, lotteries, and loan office 
certificates ; finally by continental money, or, more 
properly speaking, bills of credit emitted by au- 
thority of Congress and made legal tender by joint 
action of Congress and the several States. The 
relation of coin to paper in this motley currency 
appears in the appendix to the Journal of Con- 
gress for the year 1778, when the government 
paid out in fourteen issues of paper currency, 
1^62,154,842.63; in specie, 178,666.60 ; in French 
livres, 128,525.00. The power of taxation was 
jealously withheld by the States, and Congress 
could not go beyond recommending to them to 
levy taxes for the withdrawal of the bills emit- 
ted by it for their quotas, pari passu with their 
issue. When the entire scheme of paper money 
failed, the necessary supplies for the army were 
levied in kind. In the spring of 1781 the affairs 
of the Treasury Department were investigated by 
a committee of Congress, and an attempt was 
made to ascertain the precise condition of the 
public debt. The amount of foreign debt was ap- 

12 



178 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

proximately reached, but the record of the do- 
mestic debt was inextricably involved, and never 
definitely discovered. Morris soon brought order 
out of this chaos. His plan was to liquidate the 
public indebtedness in specie, and fund it in in- 
terest-bearing bonds. The Bank of North America 
was established, the notes of which were soon pre- 
ferred to specie as a medium of exchange. Silver, 
then in general use as the measure of value, was 
adopted as the single standard. The weight and 
pureness of the dollar were fixed by law. The 
dollar was made the unit of account and payment, 
and subdivisions were made in a decimal ratio. 
This was the dollar of our fathers. Gouverneur 
Morris, the assistant of the Financier, suggested 
the decimal computation, and Jefferson the dol- 
lar as the unit of account and payment. The 
board of treasury, which for five years had admin- 
istered the finances in a bungling way, was dis- 
solved by Congress in the fall of 1781, and Morris 
was left in sole control. Semi-annual statements 
of the public indebtedness were now begun. The 
expenses of the government were steadily and in- 
flexibly cut down to meet the diminishing income. 
A loan was negotiated in Holland, and, with the 
aid of Franklin, the amount of indebtedness to 
France was established. 

The public debt on January 1, 1783, was |42,- 
000,375, of which 17,885,088 was foreign, bearing 
four and five per cent, interest ; and $34,115,290 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 179 

was held at home at six per cent. The total 
amount of interest was $2,415,956. No means 
were provided for the payment of either principal 
or interest. In July of the previous year Morris 
urged the vrisdom of funding the public debt in a 
masterly letter to the President of Congress. On 
December 16 a sinking fund was provided for by a 
resolution, which, though inadequate to the pur- 
pose, was at least a declaration of principle. In 
February, 1784, Morris notified Congress of his 
intended retirement from office. He may justly 
be termed the father of the American system of 
finance. In his administration he inflexibly main- 
tained the determination, with which he assumed 
the office, to apply the public funds to the purpose 
to which they were appropriated. He declared 
that he would ** neither pay the interest of our 
debts out of the moneys which are called for to 
carry on the war, nor pay the expenses of the 
war from the funds which are called for to pay 
the interest of our debts." One new feature of 
Morris's administration was the beginning of the 
sale of public lands. 

On the retirement of Mr. Morris, November, 
1784, a new board of treasury was charged with 
the administration of the finances and continued 
in control until September 30, 1788, when a com- 
mittee, raised to examine into the affairs of the de- 
partment, rendered a pitiful report of mismanage- 
ment for which the Board had not the excuse of 



180 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

their predecessors during the war. They had only 
to observe the precepts which Morris had enun- 
ciated, and to follow the methods he had pre- 
scribed, with the aid of the assistants he had 
trained. But the taxes collected had not been 
covered into the Treasury by the receivers. Large 
sums advanced for secret service were not ac- 
counted for ; and the entire system of responsibil- 
ity had been disregarded. John Adams attributed 
all the distresses at this period to *'a downright 
ignorance of the nature of coin credit and circu- 
lation ; " an ignorance not yet dispelled. More 
truly could he have said that our distresses arose 
from wilful neglect of the principle of accounta- 
bility in the public service. 

The first Congress under the new Constitution 
met at New York on March 4, 1789, but it was 
not until the autumn that the executive adminis- 
tration of the government was organized by the 
creation of the three departments: State, Treas- 
ury, and War. 

The bill establishing the Treasury Department 
passed Congress on September 2, 1789. Hamil- 
ton was appointed Secretary by Washington on 
September 11. On September 21 the House di- 
rected the Secretary to examine into and report a 
financial plan. On the assembling of Congress, 
June 14, 1790, Hamilton communicated to the 
House his first report, known as that on public 
credit. The boldness of Hamilton's plan startled 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 181 

and divided the country. Funding resolutions 
were introduced into the House. The first, re- 
lating to the foreign debt, passed unanimously; 
the second, providing for the liquidation of the 
domestic obligations, was sharply debated, but in 
the end Hamilton's scheme was adopted. The 
resolutions providing for the assumption of the 
state debts, which he embodied in his report, 
aroused an opposition still more formidable, and 
it was not until August 4 that by political ma- 
chinery this part of his plan received the assent 
of Congress. To provide for the interest on the 
debt and the expenses of the government, the im- 
port and navigation duties were raised to yield 
the utmost revenue available ; but, in the tem- 
per of Congress, the excise law was not pressed at 
this session. The Secretary had securely laid the 
foundations of his policy. Time and sheer neces- 
sity would compel the completion of his work in 
essential accord with his original design. The 
President's message at the opening of the winter 
session added greatly to the prestige of Hamil- 
ton's policy b}^ calling attention to the great pros- 
perity of the country and the remarkable rise in 
public credit. The excise law, modified to apply 
to distilled spirits, passed the House in January. 
The principle of a direct tax was admitted. On 
December 14, 1790, in obedience to an order of 
the House requiring the Secretary to report fur- 
ther provision for the public credit, Hamilton com« 



182 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

municated his plans for a national bank. Next in 
order came the establishment of a national mint. 
Thus in two sessions of Congress, and in the 
space of little more than a year from the time 
when he took charge of the Treasury, Hamilton 
conceived and carried to successful conclusion an 
entire scheme of finance. 

One more measure in the comprehensive sys- 
tem of public credit crowned the solid structure of 
which the funding of the debt was the corner- 
stone. This was the establishment of the sinking 
fund for the redemption of the debt. Hamilton 
conformed his plan to the maxim, which, to use his 
words, " has been supposed capable of giving im- 
mortality to credit, namely, that with the creation 
of debts should be incorporated the means of ex- 
tinguishment, which are twofold. 1st. The estab- 
lishing, at the time of contracting a debt, funds 
for the reimbursement of the principal, as well as 
for the payment of interest within a determinate 
period. 2d. The making it a part of the contract, 
that the fund so established shall be inviolably 
applied to the object." The ingenuity and skill 
with which this master of financial science man- 
aged the Treasury Department for more than five 
years need no word of comment. Nor do they 
fall within the scope of this outline of the features 
of his policy. His reports are the text-book of 
American political economy. Whoever would 
grasp its principles must seek them in this limpid 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 183 

source, and study the methods he applied to rev- 
enue and loans. Well might Webster say of him 
in lofty praise, " He smote the rock of national re- 
sources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed 
forth ; he touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, 
and it sprung upon its feet." 

On the resignation of Hamilton, Jafiuary 31, 
1795, Washington invited Wolcott, who was fa- 
miliar with the views of Hamilton and on such 
intimate terms with him that he could always 
have his advice in any difl&cult emergency, to take 
the post. Wolcott had been connected with the 
Department from its organization, first as auditor, 
afterwards as comptroller of the Treasury. He 
held the Treasury until nearly the end of Adams's 
administration. On November 8, 1800, upon the 
open breach between Mr. Adams and the Hamil- 
ton wing of the Federal party, Wolcott, whose 
sympathies were wholly with his old chief, ten- 
dered his resignation, to take effect at the close 
of the year. On December 81 Mr. Samuel Dex- 
ter was appointed to administer the Department. 
But the days of the Federal party were now 
numbered : it fell of its own dissensions, " wounded 
in the house of its friends." 

There is nothing in the administration of the 
finances by Wolcott to attract comment. He man- 
aged the details of the Department with integrity 
and skill. On his retirement a committee of the 
House on the condition of the Treasury was ap- 



184 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

pointed. No similar examination had been made 
since May 22, 1794. On January 28, 1801, Mr. 
Otis, chairman of the committee, submitted the re- 
sults of the investigation in an unanimous report 
that the business of the Treasury Department 
had been conducted with regularity, fidelity, and 
a regard to economy ; that the disbursements of 
money had always been made pursuant to law, 
and generally that the financial concerns of the 
country had been left by the late Secretary in a 
state of good order and prosperity. During his 
six years of administration of the finances Wol- 
cott negotiated six loans, amounting in all to 
$2,820,000. The emergencies were extraordi- 
nary, — the expenses of the suppression of the 
Whiskey Insurrection in 1794, and the sum re- 
quired to effect a treaty of peace with Algiers in 
1795. To fund these sums Mr. Wolcott had re- 
course to an expedient which marked an era in 
American finance. This was the creation of new 
stock., subscribed for at home. No loan had been 
previously placed by the government among its 
own citizens. Between 1795 and 1798, four and 
a half, five, and six per cent, stocks were created. 
In 1798 the condition of the country was embar- 
rassing. There was a threatening prospect of 
war. Foreign loans were precarious and improvi- 
dent ; the market rate of interest was eight per 
cent. Under these circumstances an eight per 
cent, stock was created, not redeemable until 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 185 

1809. An Act of March 3, 1795, provided for 
vesting in the sinking fund the surplus revenues 
of each year. 

In the formation of the first Republican cabinet 
Mr. Gallatin was obviously Mr. Jefferson's first 
choice for the Treasury. The appointment was 
nevertheless attended with some difficulties of a 
political and party nature. The paramount im- 
portance of the Department was a legacy of 
Hamilton's genius. Its possession was the Feder- 
alist stronghold, and the Senate, which held the 
confirming power, was still controlled by a Fed- 
eralist majority. To them Mr. Gallatin was more 
obnoxious than any other of the Republican lead- 
ers. In the few days that he held a seat in the 
Senate (1793) he offended Hamilton, and aroused 
the hostility of the friends of the Secretary by a 
call for information as to the condition of the 
Treasury. As member of Congress in 1796 he 
questioned Hamilton's policy, and during Adams's 
entire administration was a perpetual thorn in the 
sides of Hamilton's successors in the department. 
The day after his election, February 18, 1801, Mr. 
Jefferson communicated to Mr. Gallatin the names 
of the gentlemen he had already determined upon 
for his cabinet, and tendered him the Treasury. 
The only alternative was Madison ; but he, with 
all his reputation as a statesman and party leader, 
was without skill as a financier, and in the de* 
bate on the Funding Bill in 1790 had shown his 



186 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ignorance in the impracticability of his plans. If 
Jefferson ever entertained the thought of nom- 
inating Madison to the Treasury, political neces- 
sity absolutely forbade it. That necessity Mr. 
Gallatin, by his persistent assaults on the financial 
policy of the Federalists, had himself created, and 
he alone of the Republican leaders was competent 
to carry out the reforms in the administration of 
the government, and to contrive the consequent 
reduction in revenue and taxation, which were 
cardinal points of Republican policy. Public 
opinion had assigned Gallatin to the post, and the 
newspapers announced his nomination before Mr. 
Jefferson was elected, and before he had given 
any indication of his purpose. To his wife Mr. 
Gallatin expressed some doubt whether his abili- 
ties were equal to the oflQce, and whether the 
Senate would confirm him, and said, certainly 
with sincerity, ' that he would not be sorry nor 
hurt in his feelings if his nomination should be 
rejected, for exclusively of the immense responsi- 
bility, labor, etc., attached to the intended office, 
another plan which would be much more agreeable 
to him and to her had been suggested, not by his 
political friends, but by his New York friends.' 
He was by no means comfortable in his finances, 
and he had already formed a plan of studying 
law and removing to New York. He had made 
up his mind to leave the western country, which 
would necessarily end his congressional career. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 187 

His wife was forlorn in his absence, and suffered 
so many hardships in her isolated residence that 
he felt no reluctance to the change. To one of 
his wife's family he wrote at this time ; — 

" As a political situation, the place of Secretary of the 
Treasury is doubtless more eligible and congenial to my 
habits ; but it is more laborious and responsible than any 
other, and the same industry which will be necessary to 
fulfil its duties, applied to another object, would at the 
end of two years have left me in the possession of a pro- 
fession which I might have exercised either in Phila- 
delphia or New York. But our plans are all liable to 
uncertainty, and I must now cheerfully undertake that 
which had never been the object of my ambition or 
wishes." 

Well might he hesitate as he witnessed the dis- 
tress which had overtaken the great party which 
for twelve years had held the posts of political 
honor. Fortunately, perhaps for himself and cer- 
tainly for his party and the countiy, the proposi- 
tion came at a time when he had definitively deter- 
mined upon a change of career. His situation was 
difficult. The hostility of the Federal senators, 
and the great exertions which were being made to 
defeat the appointment, led him to the opinion 
that, if presented on March 4, it would be rejected. 
There was the alternative of delay until after that 
date, which would involve a postponement of the 
confirmation until the meeting of Congress in 
December, but there was no certainty that it 



188 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

would then be ratified. Meanwhile he would be 
compelled to remove to Washington at some sacri- 
fice and expense. He therefore at first positively 
refused " to come in on any terms but a confirma- 
tion by the Senate first given." He was finally 
induced to comply with the general wish of his 
political friends. The appointment was withheld 
by the President that the feeling in the Senate 
might be judged from its action on the rest of the 
nominations submitted. They were all approved, 
and Mr. Dexter consented to hold over until his 
successor should be appointed. Thus Mr. Galla- 
tin's convenience was entirely consulted. He re- 
mained in Washington a few days to confer with 
the President as to the general conduct of the 
administration, and on March 14 set out for Fay- 
ette to put his affairs in order and to bring his 
wife and family to Washington. On May 14 
Jefferson wrote to Macon, " The arrival of Mr. 
Gallatin yesterday completed the organization of 
our administration." 

Mr Gallatin soon realized the magnitude of his 
task. He did nothing by halves. To whatever 
work he had to do, he brought the best of his 
faculty. No man ever better deserved the epithet 
of "thorough." He searched till he found the 
principle of every measure with which he had con- 
cern and understood every detail of its applica- 
tion. This perfect knowledge of every subject 
which he investigated was the secret of his politi* 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 189 

cal success. As a committee man, he was incom- 
parable. No one could be better equipped for the 
direction of the Treasury Department than he, 
but he was not satisfied with direction ; he would 
manage also ; and he went to the work with un- 
tiring energy. A quarter of a century later he 
said of it, in a letter to his son, " To fill that of- 
fice in the manner I did, and as it ought to be 
filled, is a most laborious task and labor of the 
most tedious kind. To fit myself for it, to be 
able to understand thoroughly, to embrace and 
control all its details, took from me, during the 
two first years I held it, every hour of the day 
and many of the night and had nearly brought 
on a pulmonary complaint. I filled the office 
twelve years and was fairly worn out." 

Mr. Gallatin first drew public attention to his 
knowledge of finance in the Pennsylvania Legis- 
lature. An extract from his memorandum of his 
three years' service, gives the best account of this 
incident. In it appear the carefully matured con- 
victions which he inflexibly maintained. 

" The report of the Committee of Ways and Means 
of the session 1790-1791 (presented by Gurney, chair- 
man) was entirely prepared by me, known to be so, and 
laid the foundation of my reputation. I was quite as- 
tonished at the general encomiums bestowed upon it, 
and was not at all aware that I had done so well. It 
was perspicuous and comprehensive ; but I am confident 
that its true merit, and that which gained me the general 



190 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

confidence, was its being founded in strict justice with- 
out the slightest regard to party feelings or popular 
prejudices. The principles assumed, and which were 
carried into effect, were the immediate reimbursement 
and extinction of the state paper money, the immediate 
payment in specie of all the current expenses or war- 
rants on the Treasury (the postponement and uncer- 
tainty of which had given rise to shameful and corrupt 
speculations), and provision for discharging, without de- 
falcation, every debt and engagement previously recog- 
nized by the State. In conformity with this, the State 
paid to its creditors the diflference between the nominal 
amount of the state debt assumed by the United States 
and the rate at which it was funded by the act of 
Congress. 

" The proceeds of the public lands, together with the 
arrears, were the fund which not only discharged all the 
public debts, but left a large surplus. The apprehension 
that this would be squandered by the Legislature was 
the principal inducement for chartering the Bank of 
Pennsylvania with a capital of two millions of dollars, 
of which the State subscribed one half. This and simi- 
lar subsequent investments enabled Pennsylvania to de- 
fray out of the dividends all the expenses of govern- 
ment without any direct tax during the forty ensuing 
years, and till the adoption of the system of internal 
improvement, which required new resources." 

This report was printed in the Journal of the 
House, February 8, 1791. The next year be made 
a report on the same subject which was printed 
February 22, 1792. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 191 

But his equal grasp of larger subjects was 
shown in his sketch of the finances of the United 
States, which he published in November, 1796. 
It presents under three sections the revenues, the 
expenses, and the debts of the United States, each 
subdivided into special heads. The arguments are 
supported by elaborate tabular statements. No 
such exhaustive examination had been made of the 
state of the American finances. The one cardinal 
principle which he laid down was the extinguish- 
ment of debt. He severely criticised Hamilton's 
methods of funding, and outlined those which he 
himself later applied. He charged upon Hamil- 
ton direct violations of law in the application of 
money, borrowed as principal, to the payment of 
interest on that principal. The public funds he 
regarded as three in number : 1st, the sinking 
fund ; 2d, the surplus fund ; 3d, the general fund. 

In July, 1800, Mr. Gallatin published a second 
pamphlet, " Views of the Public Debt, Receipts, 
and Expenditures of the United States," the object 
of the inquiry being to ascertain the result of the 
fiscal operations of the government under the Con- 
stitution. The entire field of American finance is 
examined from its beginning. He severely con- 
demns the mode of assumption of the state debts 
in Hamilton's original plan, and no doubt his 
strictures are technically correct. The debts as- 
sumed for debtor States were not due by the 
United States, nor was there any moral reason for 



192 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

their assumption. But the assumption was sound 
financial policy, and all the cost to the nation was 
amply repaid by the order which their assumption 
drew out of chaos, and the vigor given to the 
general credit by the strengthening of that of its 
parts. The course of the Federalists and Republi- 
cans on this question shows that the former had at 
heart the welfare of all the States while the latter 
confined their interest to their own body politic. 

Had Mr. Gallatin never penned another line on 
finance, these two remarkable papers would place 
him in the first rank of economists and statisti- 
cians. There are no errors in his figures, no flaws 
in his reasoning, no faults in his deductions. In 
construction and detail, as parts of a complete 
financial system of administration, they are be- 
yond criticism. Opinions may differ as to the 
ends sought, but not as to the means to those ends. 

For a long period Mr. Gallatin found no more 
time for essays ; he was now to apply his meth- 
ods. These may be traced in his printed treas- 
ury reports, which are lucid and instructive. He 
was appointed to the Treasury on May 14, 1801, 
as appears by the ojficial record in the State De- 
partment. Before he entered on the duties of 
the office he submitted to Mr. Jefferson, March 
14, 1801, some rough sketches of the financial sit- 
uation, and suggested the general outlines of his 
policy. He insisted upon a curtailment in the ap- 
propriations for the naval and military establish- 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 193 

ments, the only saving adequate to the repeal of all 
internal duties ; and upon the discharge of the for- 
eign debt within the period of its obligation. He 
estimated that the probable receipts and expen- 
ditures for the year 1801 would leave a surplus 
of more than two millions of dollars applicable to 
the redemption of the debt. 

On taking personal charge of the Treasury De- 
partment, his first business was to get rid of the 
arrears of current business which had accumulated 
since the retirement of Wolcott ; his next, to per- 
fect the internal revenue system, so far as it could 
be remedied without new legislation. The entire 
summer of 1801 was passed in " arranging, or 
rather procuring correct statements amongst the 
Treasury documents," a task of such difficulty 
that he was unwilling, on November 15, to arrive 
at an estimate of the revenue within half a mil- 
lion, or to commit himself to any opinion as to the 
feasibility of abolishing the internal revenues. In 
his " notes " submitted to Jefferson upon the draft 
of his first message, there are several passages of 
interest which show Mr. Gallatin's logical habit 
of searching out economic causes. Under the 
head of finances, he remarks, " The revenue has 
increased more than in the same ratio with popu- 
lation : 1st, because our wealth has increased in 
a greater ratio than population ; 2d, because the 
sea-ports and towns, which consume imported arti- 
cles much more than the country, have increased 

13 



194 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

in a greater proportion." The final paragraph in 
these " notes " is a synopsis of his entire scheme 
of administration. 

" There is but one subject not mentioned in the mes- 
sage which I feel extremely anxious to see recommended. 
It is generally that Congress should adopt such meas- 
ures as will effectually guard against misapplications of 
public moneys, by making specific appropriations when- 
ever practicable ; by providing against the application of 
moneys drawn from the Treasury under an appropria- 
tion to any other object or to any greater amount than 
that for which they have been drawn ; by limiting dis- 
cretionary power in the application of that money; 
whether by heads of department or by any other agents ; 
and by rendering every person who receives public 
moneys from the Treasury as immediately, promptly, 
and effectually accountable to the accounting officer 
(the comptroller) as practicable. The great characteris- 
tic, the flagrant vice, of the late administration has been 
total disregard of laws, and application of public moneys 
by the Department to objects for which they were not 
appropriate." 

Outlines for a system of specific appropriations 
were inclosed. 

That the mission of Jefferson's administration 
was the reduction of the debt, Gallatin set forth 
in his next letter of November 16, 1801. " I am 
firmly of opinion that if the present administra- 
tion and Congress do not take the most effective 
measures for that object, the debt will be entailed 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 195 

on us and the ensuing generations, together with 
all the systems which support it, and which it 
supports." On the other hand he says, " If this 
administration shall not reduce taxes, they never 
will be permanently reduced," To reduce both 
the debt and the taxes was as much a political 
as a financial problem. To solve it required the 
reduction to a minimum of the departments of 
War and Marine. But Mr. Jefferson was not a 
practical statesman. His individuality was too 
strong for much surrender of opinion. He stated 
the case very mildly when he wrote in his retire- 
ment that he sometimes differed in opinion from 
some of his friends, from those whose views were 
as " pure and as sound as his own." It was not 
his habit to consult his entire cabinet except on 
general measures. The heads of each department 
set their views before him separately. Under 
this system Mr. Gallatin was never able to realize 
that harmonious interdependence of departments 
and subordination of ways to means which were 
his ideal of cabinet administration. 

The successful application of Mr. Gallatin's 
plan would have subordinated all the executive 
departments to the Treasury. The theory was per- 
fect, but it took no account of the greed of office, 
the jealousies of friends, the opposition of enemies, 
and the unknown factor of foreign relations. A 
speck on the horizon would cloud the peaceful pros- 
pect, a hostile threat derange the intricate machin- 
ery by which the delicate financial balance was 



196 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

maintained. Mr. Gallatin was fast realizing the 
magnitude of his undertaking, in which he was 
greatly embarrassed by the difficulty of finding 
faithful examining clerks, on whose correctness 
and fidelity a just settlement of all accounts 
depends. The number of independent offices at- 
tached to the Treasury made the task still more 
arduous. He wrote to Jefferson at this time, " It 
will take me twelve months before I can thor- 
oughly understand every detail of all these several 
offices. Current business and the more general 
and important duties of the office do not permit 
me to learn the lesser details, but incidentally 
and by degrees. Until I know them all I dare 
not touch the machine." One of the acquire- 
ments which he considered indispensable for a 
Secretary of the Treasury was a " thorough knowl- 
edge of book-keeping." The recollection of his 
persistent demands for information from Hamilton 
and Wolcott during his congressional career would 
have stung the conscience of an ordinary man. 
But Gallatin was not an ordinary man. He asked 
nothing of others which he himself was not will- 
ing to perform. His ideal was high, but he reached 
its summit. It seems almost as if, in his persistent 
demand that money accountability should be im- 
posed by law upon the Treasury Department, lie 
sought to set the measure of his own duty, while 
in the requirement that it should be extended to 
the other departments, he pledged himself to the 
perfect accomplishment of that duty in his own. 



SECRETARY OF TPE TREASURY. 197 

In his first report to Congress,^ made December 
18, 1801, Mr. Gallatin submitted his financial esti- 
mate for the year 1802. 



REVENUE. 


EXPENDITURES. 


Imposts . . . $9,500,000 

P::fages } • ''''''' 
Internal Rev. 650,000 


Int. on debts . $7,100,000 
Civil List . . 980,000 
Army . . . 1,420,000 
Navy . . . 1,100,000 


$10,600,000 


$10,600,000 



Mr. Wolcott, in his last report to the Com- 
missioners of the Sinking Fund, stated the amount 
in the Treasury to its credit at $500,718.55. 
Mr. Gallatin denied that there was any such sur- 
plus, but said that instead of a credit balance 
the Treasury books showed a deficiency of $930,- 
128.64 on the aggregate revenue from the estab- 
lishment of the government to the close of the 
year 1799. Elliot, in his " Funding System," said 
concerning this once vexed controversy, that it 
was difficult to reconcile such a diversity of opin- 
ion on so intricate a subject ; and concerning the 
official statements of Hamilton and Wolcott, that 
it was hardly to be credited that they were so su- 
perficial or imperfect. Mr. Gallatin himself fur- 
nishes the apology that the difference might arise 
from " entries made or omitted on erroneous prin- 
ciples." To the Federal financiers the palliation 
was as offensive as the charge, and rankled long 

1 The first Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury. 
This was under the Supplementary Treasury Act. 



198 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

and sore. If it were not possible^ when Elliot 
made an examination, to arrive at the precise 
facts, it is certainly now a secret as secure from 
discovery as the lost sibylline leaves. 

Mr. Gallatin stated the debt of the United 
States 

On January 1, 1801, at . . $80,161,207.60 

On January 1, 1802, at . . 77,881,890.29 

Reduction $2,279,317.31 

This difference was the amount of principal paid 
during the year 1801, the result of the manage- 
ment of his predecessors. On December 18, 1801, 
Mr. Gallatin entered upon an examination of the 
time in which the total debt might be discharged, 
and showed that, by the annual application of 
$7,300,000 to the principal and interest the debt 
would in eight years, i. e. on January 1, 1810, be 
reduced (by the payment of $32,289,000 of the 
principal) to $45,592,739.59, and that the same 
annual sum of $7,300,000 would discharge the 
whole debt by the year 1817. The revenues of 
the Union he found sufficient to defray all the cur- 
rent expenses. In his report to Congress at the 
beginning of the session he designated this sum 
of $7,300,000 to be set aside from the revenues, 
and Congress gave the requisite authority. An 
extract from a tabular statement submitted to 
the House of Representatives, April 16, 1810, 
will show how nearly Mr. Gallatin approached the 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 



199 



result at which he aimed, and the nature of the 
embarrassment he encountered on the path. 



Years 


Amount of 
Public Debt 


Payments 


Debt Con- 


Annual In-: 


Annual 




January 1st. 


on Principal. 


tracted. 


crease. 


Decrease. 


1802 


$80,712,632.25 


$3,657,945.95 






$3,657,948.95 


1803 


77,054,686.30 


5,627,565.42 


«i5,o6b,ooo* 


$9,872,434.58 




1804 


86,427,120.88 


4,114,970.38 


- 


- 


4,114,970.38 


1805 


82,312,150.60 


6,588,879.84 


- 


- 


6,588,879.84 


1806 


75,723,270.66 


6,504,872.02 


- 


— 


6,604,872.02 


1807 


69,218,398.64 


4,022,080.67 


- 


- 


4,022,080.67 


1808 


65,196,317.97 


8,178,125.88 


- 


- 


8,173,125.88 


1809 


57,023,192.09 


3,850,889.77 




- 


3,860,889.77 


1810 


53,172,302.32 




" 


~ 


~ 



1802 
1810 



* Louisiana purchase. 

$80,712,632.25 Decrease . . . 36,912,764.51 

53,172,302.32 



Increase 



9,372,434.58 



$27,540,329.93 



Decrease in 8 yrs. $27,540,329. 



From this it appears that, notwithstanding the 
extraordinary increase of the principal by the 
amount of the Louisiana purchase, Mr. Gallatin 
contrived a reduction of $27,540,329.93. But if 
to this be added the true reduction for the year 
1803, namely, the difference between the Louis- 
iana debt, $15,000,000, and the increase for that 
year, by reason of that purchase, $9,372,434.56, 
say $6,627,565.43, the reduction is found to be, 
and but for that disturbing cause would have 
reached, $34,167,895.35, a sum exceeding by $1,- 
878,895.35 that estimated by Mr. Gallatin in his 
report of 1801 as the amount of eight years' re- 
duction, namely, $32,289,000.00. 

The ways and means of this remarkable exam- 
ple of financial management appear in the follow- 
ing extracts from Elliott's synoptical statement : 



200 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 



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ti) 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 201 

The purchase of Louisiana was the extraordi- 
nary financial measure of Jefferson's first presi- 
dential term. Though the new obligation for the 
consideration money, fifteen millions of dollars, 
was a large sura in proportion to the total existing 
debt of the United States, it did not in the least 
derange Gallatin's plan of funding and reduction, 
but was brought without friction within his gen- 
eral scheme. With the terms of the contract 
Gallatin had nothing to do. They were arranged 
by Livingston and Monroe, the American com- 
missioners, the intervention of the houses of Hope 
and the Barings being a part of the understand- 
ing between the commissioners and the French 
government. These bankers engaged to make the 
money payments and take six per cent, stock of 
the United States at seventy-eight and one half 
cents on the dollar. With this price Mr. Gallatin 
does not seem to have been satisfied, though of 
course he interposed no objection to the terms; 
but to Jefferson he wrote, August 31, 1803, that 
the low price at which that stock had been sold, 
was " not ascribable to the state of public credit 
nor to any act of your administration, and par- 
ticularly of the Treasury Department ; " and he 
adds in a postscript, "at that period our threes 
were in England worth one per cent, more at mar- 
ket than the English." 

The arrangements being completed, Jefferson 
called Congress together in October, 1803, for a 



202 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ratification of the treaty; the commissioners, by 
virtue of the authority granted them, had already 
guarantied the advance by the Barings of ten mil- 
Uon livres ($2,000,000). On October 25, 1803, 
Gallatin made a report to Congress on the state 
of the finances. It showed a reduction of the 
public debt in the two and one half years of his 
management, April 1, 1801, to September 30, 
1803, of 112,702,404,00. The only question to be 
considered was whether any additional revenues 
were wanted to provide for the new debt which 
would result from the purchase of Louisiana. 

The sum called for by treaty, fifteen millions, 
consisted of two items: 1st, $11, 250,000 payable 
to the government of France in a stock bearing 
an interest of six per cent, payable in Europe, and 
the principal to be discharged at the Treasury of 
the United States ; 2d, a sum which could not ex- 
ceed, but might fall short of, $3,750,000, payable 
in specie at the Treasury of the United States to 
American citizens having claims of a certain de- 
scription upon the government of France. 

It is interesting here to note Mr. Gallatin's dis- 
tinction between the place of payment of interest 
and principal as a new departure in American 
finance. The principal and interest of foreign 
loans had up to that period been paid abroad. 
But a United States stock was an obligation of a 
different character and properly payable at home. 
In the large negotiations which Secretary Chase 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 203 

had in 1862 with the Treasury Note Committee 
of the Associated Banks,^ this policy was matter 
of grave debate. The determined American pride 
of Mr. Chase prevailed, and both the principal 
and interest of the loans created were made pay- 
able at the Treasury of the United States. These 
are small matters in their financial result, but 
grave points in national policy. 

The only financial legislation necessary to carry 
out the Louisiana purchase was a provision that 
$700,000 of the duties on merchandise and ton- 
nage, a sum sufficient to pay the interest on the 
new debt, be added to the annual permanent ap- 
propriation for the sinking fund, making a sum 
of $8,000,000 in all. 

The new debt would, Gallatin said, neither im- 
pede nor retard the payment of the principal of 
the old debt ; and the fund would be sufficient, be- 
sides paying the interest on both, to discharge the 
principal of the old debt before the year 1818, 
and of the new, within one year and a half after 
that year. In this expectation he relied solely on 
the maintenance of the revenue at the amount of 
the year 1802, and in no way depended on its 
probable increase as a result of neutrality in the 
European war ; nor on any augmentation by rea- 

1 These were the banks of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, 
and Baltimore. Seven presidents formed the committee. John 
A. Stevens of New York was chairman. The sum advanced to 
the government was one hundred and fifty millions of dollars in 
coin. 



204 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

son of increase of population or wealth, nor the 
effect which the opening of the Mississippi to free 
navigation might be expected to have on the sales 
of public lands and the general resources of the 
country. 

In his report of December 9, 1805, Mr. Galla- 
tin reviewed the results of his first four years of 
service, April 1, 1801, to March 31, 1805. 

RECEIPTS. 

Duties on tonnage and importation of 

foreign merchandise $45,174,837.22 

From all other sources 5,492,629.82 

$50,667,467.04 

EXPENDITURE S. 

Civil list and miscellaneous .... $3,786,094.7^ 
Intercourse with foreign nations . . 1,071,437.84 
Military establishment and Indian de- 
partment 4,405,192.26 

Naval establishment 4,842,635.15 

Interest on foreign debt 16,278,700.95 

Reimbursement of debt from surplus 

revenue 19,281,446.57 

$49,665,507.56 

The Louisiana purchase and the admirable man- 
ner of its financial arrangement were important 
factors in Jefferson's reelection. Mr. Gallatin 
was therefore sure of four years, at least, for the 
prosecution of his plan of redemption of the pub- 
lic debt. Estimating that with the increase of 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 205 

population at the rate of thirty-five per cent, in 
ten years, and the corresponding growth of the 
revenue, he could count upon a net annual sur- 
plus of $5,500,000, he now proposed to convert 
the several outstanding obhgations into a six per 
cent, stock amounting, January 1, 1809, to less 
than forty millions of dollars^ which the con- 
tinued annual appropriation of $8,000,000 would, 
besides paying the interest on the Louisiana debt, 
reimburse within a period of less than seven years, 
or before the end of the year 1815. After that 
year no other incumbrance would remain on the 
revenue than the interest and reimbursement of 
the Louisiana stock, the last payment of which 
in the year 1821 would complete the final extin- 
guishment of the public debt. The conversion 
act was passed February 1, 1807, and books were 
opened on July 1 following. On February 27, 
1807, Mr. Gallatin made a special report on the 
state of the debt from 1801 to 1807, showing a 
diminution, notwithstanding the Louisiana pur- 
chase, of $14,260,000. 

In the summer of 1807 war with England 
seemed inevitable. Gallatin had the satisfaction 
to report a full treasury, — the amount of specie 
October 7, 1807, reaching over eight and one half 
1 millions, — and an annual unappropriated surplus, 
1 which could be confidently relied upon, of at least 
three millions of dollars. On this subject his re- 
marks in the light of subsequent history are of 



206 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

extreme interest. While refraining from any rec- 
ommendations as to the application of this surplus, 
either to "measures of security and defence," or to 
" internal improvements which, while increasing 
and diffusing the national wealth, will strengthen 
the bonds of union," as "subjects which do not 
fall within the province of the Treasury Depart- 
ment," he proceeds to consider the advantage of 
an accumulation in the Treasury. In this report 
he rises with easy flight far above the purely finan- 
cial atmosphere into the higher plane of political 
economy. 

" A previous accumulation of treasure in time of 
peace might in a great degree defray the extraordinary 
expenses of war and diminish the necessity of either 
loans or additional taxes. It would provide during pe- 
riods of prosperity for those adverse events to which 
every nation is exposed, instead of increasing the bur- 
thens of the people at a time when they are least able 
to bear them, or of impairing, by anticipations, the re- 
sources of ensuing generations. . . . 

" That the revenue of the United States will in sub- 
sequent years be considerably impaired by a war neither 
can nor ought to be concealed. It is, on the contrary, 
necessary in order to be prepared for the crisis, to take 
an early view of the subject, and to examine the re- 
sources which should be selected for supplying the de- 
ficiency and defraying the extraordinary expenses. . . . 

" Whether taxes should be raised to a greater amount 
or loans be altogether relied on for defraying the ex- 
penses of the war, is the next subject of consideration. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 207 

" Taxes are paid by the great mass of the citizeos, 
and immediately affect almost every individual of the 
community. Loans are supplied by capital previously 
accumulated by a few individuals. In a country where 
the resources of individuals are not generally and ma- 
terially affected by the war, it is practicable and wise to 
raise by taxes the greater part at least of the annual 
supplies. The credit of the nation may also from vari- 
ous circumstances be at times so far impaired as to have 
no resource but taxation. In both respects the situa- 
tion of the United States is totally dissimilar. . . . 

" An addition to the debt is doubtless an evil, but ex- 
perience having now shown with what rapid progress 
the revenue of the Union increases in time of peace, 
with what facility the debt, formerly contracted, has in a 
few years been reduced, a hope may confidently be en- 
tertained that all the evils of the war will be temporary 
and easily repaired, and that the return of peace will, 
without any effort, afford ample resources for reimburs- 
ing whatever may have been borrowed during the war." 

He then enumerates the several branches of 
revenue which might be selected to provide for 
the interest of war loans and to cover deficiencies. 
1st, a considerable increase of the duties on im- 
portations, and here he says, 

" Without resorting to the example of other nations, 
experience has proven that this sour.ce of revenue is in 
the United States the most productive, the easiest to 
collect, and the least burthensome to the great mass of 
the people. 2d. Indirect taxes, however ineligible, will 
doubtless be cheerfully paid as war taxes, if necessary. 



208 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

3d. Direct taxes are liable to a particular objection aris- 
ing from unavoidable inequality produced by the gen- 
eral rule of the Constitution. Whatever differences 
may exist between the relative wealth and consequent 
ability of paying of the several States, still the tax must 
necessarily be raised in proportion to their relative pop- 
ulation." 

The Orders in Council of November 11, 1807, 
avowedly adopted to compel all nations to give up 
their maritime trade or accept it through Great 
Britain, reached Washington on December 18, 
1807, and were immediately replied to by the 
United States by an embargo act on December 
22. The history of the political effect of this 
measure is beyond the limits of this economic 
study, and will be touched upon in a later chap- 
ter, but the result of its application upon the 
Treasury falls within this analysis of the methods 
of Mr. Gallatin's administration. 

On December 18 Gallatin wrote Jefferson that 
"in every point of view, privations, sufferings, 
revenue, effect on the enemy, politics at home, 
etc.," he preferred " war to a permanent em- 
bargo ; " nevertheless he was called upon to draft 
the bill. The correctness of Mr. Gallatin's pre- 
vision was soon apparent. In his report of De- 
cember 10, 1808, he reviewed the general effect 
of the measure. "The embargo has brought into 
and kept in the United States almost all the float- 
ing property of the nation. And whilst the de- 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 209 

predated value of domestic product increases the 
difficulty of raising a considerable revenue by in- 
ternal taxes, at no former time has there been so 
much specie, so much redundant unemployed cap- 
ital in the country." Again stating his opinion 
that loans should be principally relied on in case 
of war, he closed with the following words : " The 
high price of public stocks (and indeed of all spe- 
cies of stocks), the reduction of the public debt, 
the unimpaired credit of the general government, 
and the large amount of existing bank stock in 
the United States, [estimated by him at forty 
millions of dollars,] leave no doubt of the practi- 
cability of obtaining the necessary loans on rea- 
sonable terms." 

The receipts into the Treasury during the 

year ending September, 1808, the last of 

Jefferson's administration, were . . $17,952,419.90 
The disbursements during the same period 

were 12,635,275.46 

Excess of receipts $5,317,144.44 

And the specie in Treasury, October 1, 

1808 $13,846,717.82 

From January 1, 1791, to January 1, 1808, 
the debt had fallen from $75,169,974.21 to $57,- 
023,192.09 ; during the first ten years it had in- 
creased nearly seven millions of dollars, in the last 
eight it had been diminished more than twenty 
millions and Louisiana had been purchased. Thus 

14 



210 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

closed the second term of Gallatin's service. Hap- 
pen what might, the credit of the country could 
not be in a better situation to meet the exigencies 
of a war. A letter from Mr. Jefferson to Mr. 
Gallatin after the close of this administration and 
Gallatin's reply show the entire accord between 
them upon the one cardinal point of financial pol- 
icy. Mr. Jefferson, October 11, 1809, wrote from 
Monticello, " I consider the fortunes of our re- 
public as depending in an eminent degree on the 
extinction of the public debt before we engage in 
any war; because, that done, we shall have rev- 
enue enough to improve our country in peace 
and defend it in war, without incurring either 
new taxes or new loans." And urging Gallatin 
to retain his post, he closed with the striking 
words, " I hope, then, you will abandon entirely 
the idea you expressed to me, and that you will 
consider the eight years to come as essential to 
your political career. I should certainly consider 
any earlier day of your retirement as the most 
inauspicious day our new government has ever 
seen." To which Gallatin replied from Washing- 
ton, on November 10 : — 

"The reduction of the public debt was certainly the 
principal object in bringing me into office, and our suc- 
cess in that respect has been due both to the joint and 
continued efforts of the several branches of government 
and to the prosperous situation of the country. I am 
sensible that the work cannot progress under adverse cir- 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 211 

cumstances. If the United States shall be forced ipto a 
state of actual war, all the resources of the country must 
be called forth to make it efficient and new loans will un- 
doubtedly be wanted. But whilst peace is preserved, the 
revenue will, at all events, be sufficient to pay the interest 
and to defray necessary expenses. I do not ask that ia 
the present situation of our foreign relations the debt be 
reduced, but only that it shall not be increased so long 
as we are not at war." 

In his eight years of service under Jefferson, 
Gallatin had not found the Treasury Department 
a bed of roses. Under Madison there was an un- 
due proportion of thorns. 

It has been shown that the entire reliance of 
Gallatin for the expenses of government was on 
customs, tonnage dues, and land sales. The effect 
of the Embargo Act was soon felt in the falling off 
of importations, and consequently in the revenue 
from this source. Mr. Gallatin felt the strain in 
the spring of 1809 and on March 18, soon after 
Mr. Madison's inauguration, he gave notice to the 
commissioners of the sinking fund of a probable 
deficiency. In his annual report to Congress, De- 
cember, 1809, he announced the expenses of gov- 
ernment, exclusively of the payments on account 
of the principal of the debt, to have exceeded the 
actual receipts into the Treasury by a sum of near 
f 1,300,000. For this deficiency, and the sum re- 
quired for the sinking fund, Gallatin was author- 
ized in May to borrow from the bank of the United 



212 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

States f 3,750,000 at six per cent., reimbursable on 
December 31, 1811. Of this sum only $2,760,000 
was taken, the expenses having proved less than 
Mr. Gallatin had anticipated. 

Madison called Congress together on November 
1, 1811. The political tension was strong, and he 
was anxious to throw the responsibility of peace 
or war upon Congress. On November 22, 1811, 
Mr. Gallatin made his report on the finances and 
the public debt. It was, as usual, explicit and in 
no manner despondent. The actual receipts aris- 
ing from revenue alone exceeded the current ex- 
penses, including the interest paid on the debt, by 
a sum of more than five and one half millions of 
dollars. The public debt on January 1, 1812, was 
145,154,463.00. Since Gallatin took charge of 
the department, the United States had in ten years 
and nine months paid in full the purchase-money 
of Louisiana, and increased its revenue nearly two 
millions of dollars. For eight years eight millions 
of dollars had been annually paid on account of 
the principal and interest of the debt. And as 
though intending to leave as the legacy of his 
service a lesson of financial policy, he said : — 

" The redemption of principal has been effected with- 
out the aid of any internal taxes, either direct or indirect, 
without any addition during the last seven years to the 
rate of duties on importations, which on the contrary have 
been impaired by the repeal of the duty on salt, and not" 
withstanding the great diminution of commerce during 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 218 

the last four years. It therefore proves decisively the 
ability of the United States with their ordinary revenue 
to discharge, in ten years of peace, a debt of forty-two 
millions of dollars, a fact which considerably lessens the 
weight of the most formidable objection to which that 
revenue, depending almost solely on commerce, appears 
to be liable. In time of peace it is almost sufficient to 
defray the expenses of a war ; in time of war it is hardly 
competent to support the expenses of a peace establish- 
ment. Sinking at once, under adverse circumstances, 
from fifteen to six or eight millions of dollars, it is only 
by a persevering application of the surplus which it 
affords us in years of prosperity, to the discharge of the 
debt, that a total change in the system of taxation or a 
perpetual accumulation of debt can be avoided. But if 
a similar application of such surplus be hereafter strictly 
adhered to, forty millions of debt, contracted during five 
or six years of war, may always, without any extraor- 
dinary exertions, be reimbursed in ten years of peace. 
This view of the subject at the present crisis appears 
necessary for the purpose of distinctly pointing out 
one of the principal resources within reach of the United 
States. But to be placed on a solid foundation, it re- 
quires the aid of a revenue sufficient at least to defray 
the ordinary expenses of government, and to pay the in- 
terest on the public debt, including that on new loans 
which may be authorized." 

From this plain declaration, it was evident that 
the sum necessary to pay interest on new loans, 
and provide for their redemption by the operation 
of the sinking fund, could not be obtained from 



214 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

the ordinary sources of revenue, and that resort 
must be had to extraordinary imposts or direct 
taxation. On January 10, 1812, in response to 
an inquiry of the Ways and Means Committee as 
to an increase of revenue in the event of a war^ 
Gallatin submitted a project for war loans of ten 
millions a year, irredeemable for ten years. He 
pointed out that the government had never since 
its organization obtained considerable loans at six 
per cent, per annum, except from the Bank of the 
United States, and these, on a capital of seven 
millions, never amounted to seven millions in the 
whole. As the amount of prospective loans would 
naturally raise the amount of interest, it seemed 
prudent not to limit the rate of interest by law ; 
ineligible as it seemed to leave that rate discre- 
tionary with the Executive, it was preferable to 
leaving the public service unprovided for. For 
the same reason the loans should be made irre- 
deemable for a term not less than ten years. 

He then repeated a former suggestion, that 
"treasury notes," bearing interest, might be is- 
sued, which would to that extent diminish the 
amount to be directly borrowed and also provide 
a part of the circulating medium ; passing as bank 
notes, — but their issue must be strictly limited to 
that amount at which they would circulate with- 
out depreciation. So long as the public credit is 
preserved and a sufficient revenue provided, he 
entertained no doubts of the possibility of pro^ 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 215 

curing on loan the sums necessary to defray the 
extraordinary expenses of a war. He warned 
the committee, and through it Congress, that " no 
artificial provisions, no appropriations or invest- 
ments of particular funds in certain persons, no 
nominal sinking fund., however constructed, will 
ever reduce a public debt unless the net annual 
revenue shall exceed the aggregate of the annual 
expenses, including the interest of the debt.'* 
He then submitted the following estimates: — 

" The current or peace expenses have been estimated 
at nine millions of dollars. Supposing the debt con- 
tracted during the war not to exceed fifty millions and 
its annual interest to amount to three millions, the ag- 
gregate of the peace expenditure would be no more 
than twelve millions. And as the peace revenue of the 
United States may at the existing rate of duties be fairly 
estimated at fifteen millions, there would remain from 
the first outset a surplus of three millions applicable to 
the redemption of the debt. So far, therefore, as can be 
now foreseen, there is the strongest reason to believe 
that the debt thus contracted will be discharged with 
facility and as speedily as the terms of the loans will 
permit. Nor does any other plan in that respect appear 
necessary than to extend the application of the annual 
appropriation of eight millions (and which is amply 
sufficient for that purpose) to the payment of interest 
and reimbursement of the principal of the new debt. . . . 
If the national revenue exceeds the national expenditure, 
a simple appropriation for the payment of the principal 
of the debt and coextensive with the object is sufficient 



216 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

and will infallibly extinguish the debt. If the expense 
exceeds the revenue, the appropriation of any specific sum 
and the investment of the interest extinguished or of any 
other fund, will prove altogether nugatory ; and the na- 
tional debt will, notwithstanding that apparatus, be an- 
nually increased by an amount equal to the deficit in the 
revenue. . . . What appears to be of vital importance is 
that the crisis should at once be met by the adoption of 
efficient measures, which will with certainty provide 
means commensurate with the expense, and, by preserv- 
ing unimpaired instead of abusing that public credit on 
which the public resources so eminently depend, will enable 
the United States to persevere in the contest until an hon- 
orable peace shall have been obtained^ 

On March 14 Congress authorized a public 
loan of eleven millions of dollars, leaving it op- 
tional with the banks who subscribed to take 
stock, or to loan the money on special contract. 
The books were opened May 1 and 2, and in the 
two days $6,118,900 were subscribed : $4,190,000 
by banks and 11,928,000 by individuals. The 
rate was six per cent. Mr. Gallatin reported this 
result, and proposed the issue of treasury notes for 
such amount as was desired within the limit of the 
loan to bear interest at five and two fifths per cent, 
a year, equal to a cent and a half per day on a 
hundred dollars' note ; 2d, to be payable one year 
after date of issue ; 3d, to be in the meanwhile 
receivable in payment of all duties, taxes, or debts 
due to the United States." The first of these in- 
genious qualifications was adopted by Mr. ChasQ 
in bis issue of the seven-thirties. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 217 

On June 18 war was declared. On the 28th 
Mr. Gallatin submitted his estimate of receipts 
and expenditures for the year. 

EXPENDITURES IN ROUND NUMBERS. 

Civil and miscellaneous $1,560,000 

Military establishment, and Indian dept. . 12,800,000 

Naval establishment 3,940,000 

Public debt 8,000,000 



$26,300,000 



FUNDS PROVIDED. 

Balance in Treasury, January 1 . . . $2,000,000 
Receipts from duties and sales of lands 

as by estimate of November 22, 1811 . 8,200,000 

Loan authorized by law 11,000,000 

Treasury notes as authorized by House 

of Representatives 5,000,000 



$26,200,000 
The issue of treasury notes was a novel experi- 
ment in the United States ; but they were favorably 
received, and Mr. Gallatin calculated that the full 
amount authorized by law, 15,000,000, could be 
put in circulation during the year. The result of 
a loan seemed more doubtful. The old six per 
cents and deferred stock had already fallen two 
or three per cent, below par. Mr. Gallatin again 
recommended the conversion of these securities 
into a new six per cent, stock, which would facili- 
tate the new loan, and to prevent the necessity of 
applying, the same years, the large sums required 



218 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

in reimbursement of and purchase of the public 
debt. 

On December 1 Mr. Gallatin made his last 
annual statement. 

Treasury Report for Fiscal Tear ending September 30, 
1812. 

RECEIPTS. 

Customs, sales of lands, etc $10,934,946.20 

On account of loan of eleven millions, 

act 14 March, 1812 5,847,212.50 

$16,782,158.70 
Balance in Treasury October 1, 1811 3,947,818.36 

$20,729,977.06 



DISBURSEMENTS. 

Civil Department, foreign intercourse . $1,823,069.35 
Army, militia, forts, etc. $7,770,300.00 
Navy Department . . 3,107,501.54 
Indian Department . 230,975.00 



Interest on debt . . $2,498,013.19 
On account of principal 2,938,465.99 



11,108,776.54 
5,436,479.18 



$18,368,325.07 
Leaving in Treasury 30 Sept. 1812 2,361,652.69 

$20,729,977.76 

The sums obtained or secured on loans during 
the year amounted to $13,100,209.00, and the 
Secretary had the satisfaction to state '' that not- 
withstanding the addition thus made to the public 
debt, and although a considerable portion has 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 219 

been remitted from England and brought to 
market in America, the public stocks (which had 
at first experienced a slight depression) have been 
for the last three months, and continue to be, at 
par." His last report to the commissioners of the 
sinking fund of February 5, 1813, stated the usual 
application of 88,719,773.00 to the principal and 
interest of the debt. 

In his report of December 1, 1812, Mr. Gal- 
latin announced that a loan of twenty-one millions 
was needed for the service of 1813. Congress au- 
thorized a loan of §16,000,000, having six years 
to run, and an additional issue of $5,000,000 of 
treasury notes. Congress adjourned on March 4. 
Their procrastination and the pressing demands 
of the War Department nearly beggared the 
Treasury before the loans could be negotiated and 
covered into it. 

On April 17 Mr. Gallatin wrote to the Secre- 
taries of the Army and of the Navy, and sent a 
copy of his letters to Mr. Madison with informa- 
tion that the loan had been filled, and the prob- 
able receipts of the Treasury from ordinary sources 
for the year ascertained. These he estimated at 
$9,300,000. Deducting the annual appropriation 
for interest on the debt, the sum expended to 
March 31, and the amount needed for the civil 
service, there remained for the War and Navy 
Departments together the sum of $18,720,000. 

The loan of $16,000,000 was obtained in the 
following places : — 



220 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

States east of New York $486,700 

State of New York 5,720,000 

Philadelphia, Pa 6,858,400 

Baltimore and District of Columbia . . 2,393,300 

State of Virginia 187,000 

Charleston, S. C 354,000 

$16,000,000 

The history of this subscription is not without 
interest. The extremely small subscriptions in 
New England and in the Southern States can 
hardly be explained on any other theory than that 
of a belief in the collapse of the finances of the 
United States and a dissolution of the Union, for 
which the New England States had certainly been 
prepared by their governing minds.^ 

Books were opened on March 12 and 13, 1813, 
at Portsmouth, Salem, Boston, Providence, New 
York, Albany, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wash- 
ington, Richmond, and Charleston. In the two 
days the subscriptions only reached the sum of 
13,956,400. They were again opened on the 25th 
of March at New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
and Washington. The New England and South- 
ern States seem to have been disregarded because 
of their indifference in the first instance. The 
books remained open from March 25 to 31, dur- 

1 At Portland, $120,000; Salem, $183,600; Boston, $75,300; 
Providence, $67,800; Richmond, $49,000; Norfolk, $103,000; 
Charleston, $354,000. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 221 

ing which time there were received ^1,881,800, a 
total of $5,838,200. 

The pressure fell on the Middle States. In 
these, fortunately for the government, there were 
three great capitalists whose faith in the future 
prosperity of the United States was unimpaired. 
All were foreigners : David Parish and Stephen Gi- 
rard in Philadelphia and John Jacob Astor in New 
York. These now came forward, no doubt at the 
instance of Mr. Gallatin, who was a personal friend 
of each. Parish and Girard offered on April 5 
to take eight millions of the loan at the rate of 
eighty-eight dollars for a certificate of one hundred 
dollars bearing interest at six per cent., redeem- 
able before December 31, 1825, they to receive one 
quarter of one per cent, commission on the amount 
accepted, and in case of a further loan for the 
service of the year 1813, to be placed on an equal 
footing with its takers. John Jacob Astor on the 
same day and at the same place proposed to take 
for himself and his friends the sum of two million 
and fifty-six thousand dollars of the loan on the 
same conditions. These offers were accepted and 
the loan was complete. An offer on behalf of the 
State of Pennsylvania to take one million of the 
loan was received too late. Altogether the offers 
amounted to about eighteen millions, or two mil- 
lions more than the sum demanded. Mr. Gallatin, 
clinging to his old plan, endeavored to negotiate 
this loan at par, by offering a premium of a thir- 



222 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

teen years' annuity of one per cent., but found it 
impracticable. Indeed, the system of annuity, 
general in England, has never found favor as an 
investment in the United States. 

This was Mr. Gallatin's last financial transac- 
tion. A fevr weeks later, at his own request, he 
severed his actual connection with the Treasury 
Department and was on his way to St. Petersburg 
to secure the proffered mediation of the Emperor 
of Russia between the United States and Great 
Britain. 

Thus ended Mr. Gallatin's administration of 
the national finances. The hour for saving had 
passed. The imperious necessities of war take 
no heed of economic principles. The work which 
jthe Secretary had done became as the rope of 
sand. It is not surprising that Gallatin wearied 
of his post ; that he watched with vain regret and 
unavailing sighs the unavoidable increase of the 
national debt, and that he sought relief in other 
services where success was not so evanescent as in 
the Treasury Department. Before the close of 
Madison's administration, February 12, 1816, the 
public debt had run up to over one hundred and 
twenty-three millions,^ and a sum equal to the en- 
tire amount of Mr. Gallatin's savings in two terms 
had been expended in one. But his work had not 
been in vain. The war was the crucial test of the 
soundness of his financial policy. The maxims 

1 Report of Secretary Dallas, September 20, 1816. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 223 

which he announced, that debt can only be re- 
duced by a surplus of revenue over expenditure, 
and the accompaniment of every loan by an appro- 
priation for its extinguishment, became the fun- 
damental principle of American finance. Mr. Gal- 
latin was uniformly supported in it by Congress 
and public opinion. It was faithfully adhered to 
by his distinguished successors, Dallas and Craw- 
ford, and the impulse thus given continued through 
later administrations, until, in 1837, twenty years 
after the peace, the entire debt had been extin- 
guished. All this without any other variation 
from Mr. Gallatin's original plan than an increase 
of the annual appropriation, to the sinking fund 
for its reimbursement, from eight to ten millions.^ 

The only charge which has ever been made 
against Gallatin's administration was, that he re- 
duced the debt at the expense of the defences and 
security of the country ; but, to quote the words 
of one of his biographers : ^ " Mr. Gallatin had the 
sagacity to know that it [the redemption of the 
debt] would make but little difference in the degree 
of preparation of national defence and means of 
contest, for which it is impossible ever to obtain 
a considerable appropriation before the near ap- 
proach of the danger that may render them neces- 
sary. He knew that the money thus well and 
wisely devoted to the payment of the debt was 
only rescued from a thousand purposes of extrav- 

1 Act of March 3, 1817. '^ Democratic Review, xii. 64U 



224 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

agance and mal-application to which all our legis- 
lative bodies are so prone whenever they have 
control of surplus funds." In our own day the 
irresistible temptations of a full treasury need no 
labored demonstration. Friend and foe drop polit- 
ical differences over the abundant fleshpot. The 
very thought of catering to such appetites dis- 
gusted Gallatin. To Jefferson he frankly said, in 
1809, that while he did not pretend to step out of 
his own sphere and to control the internal man- 
agement of other departments, yet he could not 
" consent to act the part of a mere financier, to 
become a contriver of taxes, a dealer of loans, a 
seeker of resources for the purpose of supporting 
useless baubles, of increasing the number of idle 
and dissipated members of the community, of fat- 
tening contractors, pursers, and agents, and of in- 
troducing in all its ramifications that system of 
patronage, corruption, and rottenness which you 
justly execrate." 

EEVENUE. 

Id ^tat c\%t moi was the autocratic maxim of 
Louis Quatorze. An adherence to it cost the 
Bourbons their throne. Burke was more philo- 
sophical when he said, " The revenue of the state 
is the state." Its imposition, its collection, and 
its application involve all the principles and all 
the powers of government, constitutional or ex- 
traordinary. It is the sole foundation of public 



SECRETARY OF TEE TREASURY. 



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226 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

credit, the sole support of the body politic, its life- 
blood in peace, its nerve in war. The " purse and 
the sword " are respectively the resource and de- 
fence of government and peoples, and they are 
independent powers. With the discovery of the 
sources of revenue, and the establishment of its 
currents, Mr. Gallatin, in the first eight years of 
his administration of the Treasury, had nothing to 
do. He had only to maintain those systems which 
Hamilton had devised, and which, wisely adapted 
to the growth of the country, proved amply ade- 
quate to the ordinary expenditures of the govern- 
ment and to the gradual extinguishment of the 
debt. The entire revenue included three distinct 
branches : imposts on importations and tonnage, 
internal revenue, sales of public lands. The du- 
ties on imports of foreign merchandise were alone 
sufl&cient to meet the current expenses of the va- 
rious departments of administration on a peace 
establishment, and, increasing with the growth of 
the country, would prove ample in future. The 
gross amount of imports in the four years of Ad- 
ams's administration, 1796-1800, was about three 
hundred and fourteen millions of dollars, and the 
customs yielded about thirty millions. 

Mr. Gallatin's first annual report, submitted to 
the House of Representatives in December, 1801, 
exhibited his financial scheme. He recapitulated 
the various sources of permanent revenue. They 
were those of Hamilton's original tariff. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 227 

The revenues for the year ended September 30, 
1801, were the basis of the estimates for future 
years. These were 

Duties on imports and tonnage . $10,126,213.92 

Internal revenue 854,000.00 

Land sales 400,000.00 

$11,380,213.92 

But the close of the war in Europe sensibly 
diminished the enormous carrying trade which fell 
to the United States as neutrals, and, as a con- 
sequence, the revenue from that source ; large 
quantities of goods were brought into the United 
States and reexported to foreign ports under a 
system of debenture. The revenue on what Mr. 
Gallatin calls " this accidental commerce " was 
11,200,000. He therefore estimated the perma- 
nent revenues at 

Customs duties $9,500,000 

Land sales 400,000 

Postage 50,000 

Internal revenue 650,000 

$10,600,000 

Or, without the internal revenue, say ten millions 
of permanent revenue, as a basis for the permanent 
expenditures. 

To bring the expenditures within this sum, how- 
ever, a reduction in the army and navy establish' 
ments was necessary. This Gallatin soon found 



228 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

to be too radical a measure for success, either in 
the cabinet or Congress, however well it may have 
accorded with Jefferson's Utopian views. In the 
budget of 1802 the internal revenue, 1650,000, 
was, therefore, a necessary item. The expendi- 
tures proposed were 

Annual appropriation for interest and 

principal of debt $7,100,000 

CiviUist $780,000 

Foreign intercourse . . 200,000 
Military and Indian Dept. 1,420,000 
Naval 1,100,000 

$3,500,000 3,500,000 

$10,600,000 

In this budget the estimate for the military es- 
tablishment was an increase over that of Wolcott 
for 1801, which was 11,120,000. But the Repub- 
licans in the House were not content with this 
arrangement. The internal revenues were utterly 
distasteful tc them. They had been laid against 
their protest and collected under military menace. 
They were of those Federal measures of which 
they would have none. John Randolph, chairman 
of the Committee of Ways and Means, reported, 
March 2, 1802, against the entire system of inter- 
nal duties, in the old words of the Pennsylvania 
radicals, as vexatious, oppressive, and peculiarly 
obnoxious ; as of the nature of an excise which is 
hostile to the genius of a free people, and finally 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 229 

because of their tendency to multiply offices and 
increase the patronage of the Executive. The 
repeal was imperative upon the Republican party. 
On April 6, 1802, the act was repealed and the 
surplus of the budget stripped from it, without 
Mr. Gallatin's consent, certainly, but also without 
protest from him. 

The prosperity of the country continued. The 
impost duties for the fiscal year ending September 
30, 1802, rose to $12,280,000, the sales of the pub- 
lic lands to $326,000, and the postage to $50,500, a 
total of $12,656,500, and left in the treasury, Sep- 
tember 30, 1802, the sum of $4,539,675.57. This 
large increase in the treasury did not in the least 
change Mr. Gallatin's general plan, and his budget 
for 1803 was based on his original scale of a per- 
manent revenue of $10,000,000, to correspond with 
which the estimates of the preceding year were 
reduced. The fiscal year closed September 30, 
1803, with a balance in the treasury of $5,860,000. 
This situation of the finances was fortunate in view 
of secret negotiations which the President and 
Congress were initiating for the purchase of Lou- 
isiana from France. 

The Secretaries of War and of the Navy had 
promised to reduce their expenditures to a figure 
approximate to Mr. Gallatin's estimates ; but the 
breaking out of hostilities with Tripoli prevented 
the proposed economy, and Mr. Gallatin was 
ijalled upon to provide for an increased expend! 



230 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ture with one certain source of revenue definitively 
closed. He therefore proposed an additional tax 
of two and one half per cent, on all importations 
which paid an ad valorem duty. This additional 
impost, laid by act of March 25, 1804, called the 
Mediterranean Fund, remained in force long after 
the war closed and held its place on the books of 
the Treasury under that name. 

The bulk of the cost of Louisiana was met by 
an issue of bonds ; but Mr. Gallatin, true to his 
principle, applied the moneys in the treasury as 
far as they would go. The budget for 1805 was 
on a different scale. The increase in the debt de- 
manded a proportionate increase in the revenue to 
meet the additional sum required for interest and 
gradual annual reimbursement. The Mediterra- 
nean Fund was sufficient to meet the increased 
amounts required for the navy. In this manner 
he held up the Navy Department to a strict ac- 
countability and made it responsible to Congress 
and not to the cabinet for its administration, and 
he thus, from his own point of view, relieved the 
Treasury Department from any responsibility for 
extraordinary expenditure. 

Mr. Gallatin closed his four years of administra- 
tion with flying colors. The successful manage- 
ment of the finances was an important factor in 
the election of 1804, which returned Mr. Jeffer- 
son to the presidential chair and insured to the 
country the inestimable advantages of Mr. Galla- 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 231 

tin's practical mind. Order reigned in his de- 
partment at least, and order subordinate to the 
strictest requirements of law. In the four years, 
1801-1804, Jefferson's first term, the imports ag- 
gregated 1337,363,510 and the customs yielded 
$45,000,000. 

The annual report, made December 9, 1805, an- 
nounced an increasing revenue, amounting in all 
to thirteen and one half millions of dollars, chiefly 
from customs. Still Mr. Gallatin made but small 
addition to his estimates for the coming year. 
The permanent revenue he raised to twelve and 
one half millions and increased the appropriation 
for the payment of the debt and interest to eight 
millions. Nothing occurred during the next year 
to check the growth of the country ; the revenue 
continued on a rising scale, and reached close 
upon fifteen millions of dollars. 

So far Mr. Gallatin had met but inconsiderable 
obstacles in his course, and these he used to his ad- 
vantage to impress economy upon the Army and 
Navy Departments, and enforce his principle of 
minute appropriations for their government. All 
that he had already accomplished in the establish- 
ment of a sound financial system and the support 
of the credit of the United States was but the 
basis of a broader structure of national economy. 
His extensive scheme of internal improvements 
was hardly matured when the thunder broke in 
the clear sky. The acquisition of Louisiana, the 



232 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

large carrying trade whicli had passed under the 
American flag, and the rapid prosperity of the 
financial and industrial condition of the country 
aroused the jealousy of Great Britain, and deter- 
mined her to check the further progress of the 
United States by war, if need be. The capture 
of the American frigate Chesapeake by the man- 
of-war Leopard, June 22, 1807, was only the first 
in a series of outrages which rendered the final 
collision, though long delayed, inevitable. Mr. 
Gallatin at once recognized that the Treasury 
could no longer be conducted on a peace basis. 
" Money," he wrote to Joseph H. Nicholson, " we 
will want to carry on the war ; our revenue will 
be cut up ; new and internal taxes will be slow 
and not sufiiciently productive ; we must neces- 
sarily borrow. This is not pleasing to me, but it 
must be done." Congress was called together for 
October 26, 1807, and on November 5, Mr. Gal- 
latin sent in his annual report. There was still 
hope that Great Britain would make amends for 
the outrage, and Congress was certainly peaceably 
disposed. In the condition of the Treasury there 
was no reason as yet for recommending extraordi- 
nary measures. The revenues for the year passed 
the sum of seventeen millions ; the balance in the 
Treasury reached eight and one half millions ; 
the surplus on a peace footing was twelve mil- 
lions. Mr. Gallatin recommended that the duties 
should be doubled in case war were threatened. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 233 

He said, "should the revenue fall below seven 
millions of dollars, not only the duty on salt and 
the Mediterranean duties could be immediately 
revived, but the duties on importation generally 
be considerably increased, perhaps doubled, with 
less inconvenience than would arise from any other 
mode of taxation." Experience had proven that 
this source of revenue is in the United States " the 
most productive, the easiest to collect, and least 
burdensome to the great mass of the people." But 
still the war-cloud did not break. Mr. Canning 
contented himself with war in disguise, and by 
his Order in Council of November 11, 1807, shut 
the ports of Europe to American trade, and wiped 
away the advantages of the United States as a 
neutral power. The United States answered with 
the act of embargo on December 22, 1807, com- 
pleting, as far as it was possible for legislation to 
effect it, the blockade of the Treasury Department 
as regarded revenues from foreign imports. The 
immediate effect, however, of these acts in Great 
Britain and America was an enormous temporary 
increase of importations in the interim from the 
time of the passage of the act until the date when 
it took effect. To aid merchants in this peculiar 
condition of affairs an act was passed by Congress, 
on March 10, 1808, extending the terms of credit 
on revenue bonds. 

Mr. Gallatin's report of December 16, 1808, 
closed the record of his eight years of management 



234 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

of the Department. In the second term of Jeffer- 
son's administration, 1805-1808, the gross amount 
of imports had risen to 1443,990,000, and the cus- 
toms collected to nearly $60,000,000. In the 
entire eight years, 1800-1808, the gross amount 
of importations was 87,81,000,000, and the cus- 
toms yielded 8105,000,000. The entire expenses 
of the government in the same period, including 
865,000,000 of debt, had been liquidated from 
customs alone. 

The specie in the Treasury on September 20, 
1808, reached nearly $14,000,000. Mr. Jefferson 
knew of the amount in the treasury when he 
wrote his last message, November 8, 1808, and he 
could not have been ignorant of Mr. Gallatin's 
warning of the previous year that a continuance of 
the embargo restriction would reduce the revenue 
below the point of annual expenditures and re- 
quire an additional impost ; yet he had the igno- 
rance or the presumption to say in his message, 
" Shall it (the surplus revenue) lie unproductive 
in the public vaults ? Shall the revenue be re- 
duced ? or shall it not rather be appropriated to 
the improvement of roads, canals, rivers, education, 
and other great foundations of prosperity and un- 
ion under the powers which Congress may already 
possess or such amendments of the Constitution 
as may be approved by the States ? While un- 
certain of the course of things, the time may be 
advantageously employed in obtaining the powers 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 235 

necessary for a system of improvement, should it 
be thought best." In these words Jefferson sur- 
rendered the vital principle of the Republican 
party. In his satisfaction at the only triumph of 
his administration, the management of the finances 
and the purchase of a province without a ripple 
on the even surface of national finance, he gave 
up the very basis of the Republican theory, the 
reduction of the government to its possible mini- 
mum, and actually proposed a system of adminis- 
tration coextensive with the national domain, an 
increase of the functions of government, and con- 
sequently of executive power. 

The annual report of the Treasury, presented 
December 16, 1808, showed no diminution of re- 
sources. The total receipts for the fiscal year 
were nearly eighteen millions. The total receipts 
for 

Customs reached . . . . , . $26,126,648 

On which debentures were allowed 

on exportations 10,059,457 

Actual receipts from customs . . $16,067,191 
But this source of revenue was now definitively 
closed by the embargo, while the expenditures of 
the government were increased. Mr. Gallatin met 
the situation frankly and notified Congress of the 
resources of the Treasury. 

RESOURCES FOR 1809. 

Cash iu treasury $13,846,717.52 

Back customs, net 2,154,000.00 

Total resources $16,000,717.52 



236 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

The receipts from importations and land sales 
would be offset by deductions for bad debts and 
extensions of credit to importers. The expendi- 
tures were set at ^13,000,000, which would leave 
in the Treasury for extraordinary expenditure 
$3,000,717. The disbursements had been far be- 
yond the estimates ; those for the military and 
naval establishments reaching together six mil- 
lions. 

It is not to be supposed that Mr. Gallatin 
saw this depletion of the treasury, this rapid dis- 
sipation of the specie, — always desirable and never 
more so than in periods of trouble, — without dis- 
appointment and regret. His report to Congress 
was as outspoken politically as it was financially, 
and from a foreign-born citizen to an American 
Congress must have carried its sting. " Either 
America," he wrote, " must accept the position of 
commerce allotted to her by the British edicts, 
and abandon all that is forbidden, — and it is not 
material whether this is done by legal provisions 
limiting the commerce of the United States to 
the permitted places, — or by acquiescing in the 
capture of vessels stepping beyond the prescribed 
bounds. Or the nation must oppose force to the 
execution of the orders of England ; and this, how- 
ever done, and by whatever name called, will be 
war." He recalled to them his advice of the pre- 
ceding years in a vein of tempered bitterness: 
" Had the duties been doubled on January 1, 1808, 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 237 

as was then suggested, in case of war the receipts 
into the treasury during that and the ensuing year 
would have been increased nine or ten millions of 
dollars." He then proposed to continue the Med- 
iterranean Fund and to double all existing duties 
on importations after January 1, 1809. He in- 
formed them that no internal taxes, either direct 
or indirect, were contemplated by him even in the 
case of hostilities against the two belligerent pow- 
ers; France having responded to the Orders in 
Council by Napoleon's Milan decree, December 17, 
1807, which was quite as offensive to the United 
States as that of Canning. With true statesman- 
ship Mr. Gallatin nerved the country to extraor- 
dinary exertion by reminding it that the geo- 
graphical situation of the United States and their 
history since the Revolution removed every appre- 
hension of frequent wars. 

During the year 1809 the country drifted along 
apparently without rudder or compass, helmsman 
or course, and the treasury locker was being rap- 
idly reduced to remainder biscuit. Mr. Madison 
was inaugurated in March. In his first message j 
May 23, 1809, he exposed the financial situation 
with an indecision which was as marked a trait of 
his character as optimism was of that of Jefferson. 
In his message of November 29, 1809, he said 
" the sums which had been previously accumulated 
in the treasury, together with the receipts during 
the year ending on September 30 last, and amount- 



238 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

iiig to more than nine millions of dollars, have 
enabled us to fulfil all our engagements and defray 
the current expenses of government without re- 
curring to any loan ; but the insecurity of our 
commerce and the consequent demands of the 
public revenue will probably produce a deficiency 
in the receipts of the ensuing year." Beyond this 
Madison did not venture ; Gallatin was left alone. 

The Treasury report of December 8, 1809, an- 
nounced the beginning of short rations. The 
expenses of government, exclusively of the pay- 
ments on account of the principal of the debt, had 
exceeded the actual receipts into the Treasury by 
a sum of near $1,300,000. If the military and 
naval establishments were to be continued at the 
figures of 1809, when six millions were expended, 
there would result a deficiency of $3,000,000, and 
a loan of 84,000,000 would be necessary. Other- 
wise the Mediterranean Fund would suffice. The 
cash in the treasury had fallen from nearly four- 
teen millions on June 2, 1809, to less than six 
millions on September 3, following. In this report 
Gallatin expressed his opinion, that the system of 
restriction established by the embargo and partly 
relaxed must be entirely reinstated or wholly 
abandoned. On May 1, 1810, an act of strict pro- 
hibition of importations from Great Britain and 
her dependencies was passed. 

While from the incompetency of the adminis- 
tration the country was fast approaching the real 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 239 

crisis of open war, the Republicans in Congress 
were deliberately destroying and undermining the 
basis of national credit, by which alone it could be 
carried on. In February the United States Bank, 
by which, and its branches, the customs were 
collected throughout the country, was destroyed 
by the refusal of Congress to renew its charter. 
Mr. Gallatin in his combinations never contem- 
plated such a contingency as the total destruction 
of the fiscal agency on which the government had 
relied for twenty years. Unwilling to struggle 
longer against the mean personalities and factious 
opposition of his own party in Congress, he ten- 
dered his resignation to Mr. Madison. But the 
Republican party was a party of opposition, not of 
government. With the exception of Mr. Gallatin, 
no competent administrative head had as yet ap- 
peared. There was no one in the party or out of 
it to take his place. Mr. Madison knew it. Mr. 
Gallatin felt it, and remained. Congress met in 
November. On the 25th Mr. Gallatin sent in his 
annual report ; the receipts reached thirteen and 
a half million dollars. 

The Budget for 1812 left a deficiency to be pro- 
vided for of 11,200,000. This was a small matter. 
The revenue Mr. Gallatin proposed to increase, on 
the plan before recommended, by additions of fifty 
per cent to the imposts on foreign commerce. This 
he preferred to any internal tax. 

At the close of the year the country, chafed be- 



240 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

yond endurance by the indignities put upon it and 
the sufferings it encountered without compensa- 
tion to its pride, was eager for war. Congress was 
no way loath to try the dangerous path out of its 
labyrinth of blunders. The near contingency im- 
posed the necessity of an immediate examination 
of the sources of revenue. In January, 1812, Mr. 
Gallatin was requested by the chairman of the 
Committee of Ways and Means to give his opinion 
as to the probable amount of receipts from duties 
on tonnage and merchandise in the event of war. 
This, in view of the vigorous restrictions laid by 
France under her Continental system of exclusion, 
Mr. Gallatin estimated under existing rules as not 
to exceed $2,500,000. He then stated, without 
hesitation, that it was practicable and advisable to 
double the rate of duties, and to renew the old 
duty on salt. The sum acquired, with this ad- 
dition, he anticipated, would amount to $5,400,000. 
On the basis of annual loans of ten millions of 
dollars during the continuance of the war (the 
sum assumed by the committee), the deficiency 
for 1814 would amount, by Mr. Gallatin's esti- 
mate, to $4,200,000. To produce a net revenue 
equal to this deficiency he stated that the gross 
sum of taxes to be laid must be five millions of 
dollars. He then reverted to his report of Decem- 
ber 10, 1808, in which he had stated that " no inter- 
nal taxes, either direct or indirect, were contem- 
plated, even in the case of hostilities carried on 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 241 

against the two great belligerent powers." The 
balance in the treasury was then nearly fourteen 
millions of dollars, but in view of the daily decrease 
of the revenue he had recommended " that all the 
existing duties be doubled on importations sub- 
sequent to the first day of January, 1809." As 
the revenues of 1809, 1810, and 1811 had yielded 
$26,000,000, the sum on hand, with the increase 
thus recommended, would have reached f 20,000,- 
000, a sum greater than the net amount of the 
proposed internal taxes in four years. At that 
time no symptoms had appeared from which the 
absolute dissolution of the Bank of the United 
States without any substitute could have been an- 
ticipated. If its charters had been renewed, on 
the conditions suggested by Mr. Gallatin, the ne- 
cessity for internal taxes would have been avoided. 
The resources of the country, properly applied, 
however, were amply sufficient to meet the emer- 
gency ; but Mr. Gallatin distinctly threw upon 
Congress, and by implication upon the Republican 
majority, the responsibility for the state of the 
treasury, and the imperative necessity for a form 
of taxation which it detested as oppressive, and 
which it was a party shibboleth to declare in and 
out of season, to be unconstitutional. The choice 
of the administration was between the Bank which 
Jefferson detested and Gallatin favored, and the 
internal tax which Mr. Gallatin considered as the 

16 



242 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

most repulsive in its operation of any form of rev- 
enue. 

But necessity knows no law, and the prime 
mover, if not the original author, of the opposition 
to Hamilton's system was driven to propose the 
renewal of the measures, opposition to which had 
brought the Republican party into power, and 
placed himself at the head of the Treasury. He 
now proposed to raise the five millions deficiency 
by internal taxation — 83,000,000 by direct tax 
and 82,000,000 by indirect tax. 

Continuing his lucid and remarkable report 
with careful details of the methods to be adopted, 
Gallatin closed with an urgent recommendation 
that the crisis should at once be met by the adop- 
tion of eflBcient measures to provide, with cer- 
tainty, means commensurate with the expense, 
and by preserving unimpaired, instead of abus- 
ing, that credit on which the public resources 
eminently depend, to enable the United States to 
persevere in the contest until an honorable peace 
should be obtained. Thus he held the bitter cup 
to the lips of the Republican Congress, which, 
however, was not yet to drain its full measure. 
War was declared June 18, 1812. On July 1, 
1812, an act was passed imposing an additional 
duty of one hundred per cent, on all importations, 
an additional ten per cent, on goods brought in 
foreign vessels, and also a duty of 81-50 per ton on 
all foreign vessels. The duty was to remain until 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 243 

tbe expiration of one year after peace should be 
made with Great Britain. On December 5, 1812, 
Mr. Gallatin sent in his last report. The balance 
in the treasury was $3,947,818.36. His estimate 
for the service of the year 1813 was a war budget. 
Resources, 812,000,000; expenditures, 131,926,- 
000; promising a deficiency of 819,925,000. For 
this and other contingencies Mr. Gallatin asked 
for a loan of twenty millions. The authority was 
granted, but the recommendations of direct and in- 
direct taxes were disregarded. Here Mr. Galla- 
tin's direct connection with the customs system 
closed. 

The value of foreign importations during Madi- 
son's first term was 8275,230,000, and the customs 
derived from them thirty-eight millions of dollars. 

Congress adjourned March 4, 1813, but was 
called together again in May, when the subject of 
internal taxes was again forced upon them. The 
internal revenue was a part of Hamilton's general 
scheme. His original bill Avas passed, and, after 
numerous amendments suggested by trial, its griev- 
ances were tempered and the friction removed. 
In Adams's term it yielded nearly three millions of 
dollars. In Jefferson's first term, before the rise 
in customs revenue allowed of its abandonment, 
Mr. Gallatin drew from this source nearly two 
millions of dollars, enough to pay the interest and 
provide for the extinguishment of a six per cent. 



,! 



244 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

loan of thirty millions; a war budget in itself. 
But it had been so entirely set aside that in Jef- 
ferson's second term, 1808-1812, it had fallen to 
a little over sixty-three thousand ; in Madison's 
first term, to a little under nineteen thousand dol- 
lars. Was it to this Mr. Dallas referred in that 
passage of his report, made in 1815, on the finan- 
cial operations of the war, in which he expresses 
his regret " that there existed no system by which 
the internal resources of the country could be 
brought at once into action, when the resources of 
its external commerce became incompetent to an- 
swer the exigencies of the time? The existence 
of such a system would probably have invigorated 
the early movements of the war, might have pre- 
served the public credit unimpaired, and would 
have rendered the pecuniary contributions of the 
people more equal, as well as more effective." " It 
certainly," to use the words of this Mr. Gallatin's 
oldest and best political friend, " furnishes a lesson 
of practical policy." Disagreeable as the neces- 
sity was, it could not be avoided, and Mr. Galla- 
tin met it manfully. Nay more, he seems to have 
had a grim satisfaction in proposing the measure 
to the Congress which had thwarted him in his 
plans. In accordance with his suggestions. Con- 
gress, in the extra session of May, 1813, laid a 
direct tax of f 3,000,000 upon the States, and spe- 
cific duties upon refined sugar, carriages, licenses 
to distillers of spirituous liquors, sales at auction, 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 245 

licenses to retailers of wines, and upon notes of 
banks and bankers. These duties, in the beginning 
temporary, were calculated to yield $500,000, and 
"with the direct tax to give a sum of 83,500,000. 
But the increasing expenditures again requiring 
additional sums of revenue, the duties were made 
permanent and additional taxes were laid ; the en- 
tire revenue for 1815 being raised so as to yield 
112,400,000. In the second term of Mr. Madison 
the internal revenue brought in nearly eleven and 
a half millions. The Federalists, who as a party 
were opposed to the war, enjoyed the situation , 
Mr. Gallatin was compelled to impose the internal 
revenue tax which he detested, and Mr. Dallas 
was called upon to enforce its application. 

The only remaining source of revenue was the 
sale of public lands. This also was a part of 
Hamilton's original scheme. The public lands of 
the United States were acquired in three different 
ways, namely, 1, by cessions from the States of 
such lands as they claimed, or were entitled to by 
their original grants or charters from the crown, 
while colonies ; 2, by purchase from Indian tribes ; 
3, by treaties with foreign nations ; those of 1783 
and 1794 with Great Britain, of 1795 with Spain, 
and of 1803 with France. The need of bringing 
this vast territory under the control of the govern- 
ment and disposing of it for settlement was early 
apparent. In July, 1791, Hamilton sent in to the 



246 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

House a report on " A uniform system for the dis- 
position of the lands, the property of the United 
States." In March preceding, grants of the United 
States had confirmed to the actual settlers in the 
Illinois country the possession of their farms. But 
what with the Indian wars and the rebellion 
within the United States, no action was taken by 
Congress to carry the recommendations of the 
Secretary into effect, until Mr. Gallatin, whose 
residence on the frontier gave him direct interest 
in the subject, brought up the matter at the very 
first session he attended. In 1796 a bill was 
passed authorizing and regulating the sale of lands 
northwest of the Ohio and above the mouth of the 
Kentucky River, and a surveyor-general was ap- 
pointed with directions to lay out these lands in 
townships. The sales under Adams's administra- 
tions were trifling, the total amount received from 
this source before the year 1800 being slightly 
over one hundred thousand dollars. In May, 1800, 
sales of the same lands were authorized at public 
vendue at not less than two dollars per acre ; four 
land offices were established in the territory ; sur- 
veyors were appointed, and a register of the land 
office was made a permanent official. In March, 
1803, an act was passed to regulate the sale of the 
United States lands south of the Tennessee River, 
two land offices were established and public sale 
provided for at the same price set in the act of 
1800. In March, 1804, the Indiana lands lying 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 247 

north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi were 
brought within similar regulations, and an act 
was passed concerning the country acquired under 
Spanish and British grants. In the same month 
Louisiana was erected into two territories. The 
sums received from the sales during the first term 
of Jefferson's administration amounted to little 
more than one million of dollars. In January, 
1805, the territory of Indiana was divided into 
two separate governments ; that one which was set 
off received the name of Michigan, and in 1808, 
its territory was brought under the regulations of 
the land office. 

The sums received from the sales in the second 
term of Jefferson's administration reached nearly 
two and one half millions of dollars, and in Mad- 
ison's first term, nearly three millions of dollars. 
From first to last Mr. Gallatin never lost sight 
of the subject, though occasion did not serve for 
more than organization of the system which, in 
the four years ending 1836, yielded nearly fifty 
million dollars, and paid more than one third of 
the entire expenses of the government. To John 
W. Eppes 1 Mr. Gallatin wrote in the crisis of 
1813, " The public lands constitute the only great 
national resource exclusive of loans and taxes. 
They have already been mentioned as a fund for 
the ultimate extinguishment of the public debt." 
The land offices were then in full operation. 
1 Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Meani. 



248 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

In 1810 Mr. Gallatin prepared an " Introduction 
to the collection of laws, treaties, and other docu- 
ments respecting the public lands," which was 
published pursuant to an act of Congress passed in 
April of that year. 

FREE TRADE. 

While Mr. Gallatin differed from his early Re- 
publican associates in many of their theories of 
administration, he was a firm believer in the best 
of their principles, namely, the wisdom of giving 
free scope to the development of national resources 
with the least possible interference on the part of 
government. One of his purposes in his persistent 
desire for economy in expenditure was to reduce 
the tariff upon foreign importations to the lowest 
practicable limit. He was the earliest public ad- 
vocate in America of the principles of free trade, 
and an experience of sixty years confirmed him in 
his convictions. 

The extinguishment of the debt rendered a great 
reduction in the revenue possible. On the other 
hand, it brought the friends of a low tariff face to 
face with the problem of internal improvements. 
As the election of 1832 drew near, the advocates 
of the two systems ranged themselves in two great 
parties precisely as to-day : the advocates of the 
protective or American system with internal im- 
provements as an outlet for accumulations of rev- 
enue on the one side ; on the other the advocates 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 249 

of free trade. Between his desire for the advan- 
tages of the one with its attendant disadvantages 
of government interference in its prosecution, and 
the freedom of commerce from undue restrictions, 
Mr. Gallatin did not hesitate. He threw the 
whole force of his experience and character into 
the free trade cause, and became the leader of its 
friends. 

On September 30, 1831, a convention of the ad- 
vocates of free trade, without distinction of party, 
met at the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia. 
Two hundred and twelve delegates appeared. 
Among them were Theodore Sedgwick, George 
Peabody, and John L. Gardner from Massachu- 
setts ; Preserved Fish, John Constable, John A. 
Stevens, Jonathan Goodhue, James Boorman, 
Jacob Lorillard, and Albert Gallatin from New 
York; C. C. Biddle, George Emlen, Isaac W. Nor- 
ris from Pennsylvania ; Langdon Cheves, Henry 
Middleton, Joseph W. Allston, and William C. 
Preston from South Carolina ; and men of equal 
distinction, bankers, merchants, statesmen, and po- 
litical economists from other States. Of this con- 
vention Mr. Gallatin was the soul. He opened its 
business by stating the objects of the meeting, and 
nominated the Hon. Philip P. Barbour of Vir- 
ginia for president. A general committee of two 
from each State was appointed, which recom- 
mended an address to the people of the United 
States and a memorial to Congress. The address 



250 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

to the people closed with a declaration that the 
near extinguishment of the national debt, which 
would be discharged by the available funds of the 
government on January 1, 1833, suggested that 
the moment was propitious for the establishment 
of the principles of free trade. Thus the people 
of the United States, who had successfully as- 
serted the doctrines of free government, might 
add to its claims upon the gratitude of the world 
by being the first also to proclaim the theory of 
a free and unrestricted commerce, the genuine 
" American system." Mr. Gallatin was the chair- 
man of the committee of fourteen, one from each 
State represented in the convention, to prepare 
the memorial which was presented in their behalf 
to Congress, the conclusions of which, presented 
with his consummate ability, demonstrated with 
mathematical precision that a duty of twenty-five 
per cent, was sufficient for all the legitimate pur- 
poses of government. Here he found himself in 
direct opposition to Mr. Clay, whose political ex- 
istence was staked upon the opposite theory. Mr. 
Clay answered in a great speech in the Senate in 
February, 1832, and forgot himself in personal de- 
nunciation of Mr. Gallatin as a foreigner with Eu- 
ropean interests at heart, and of Utopian ideas ; 
for this he expressed his regret to Mr. Gallatin in 
an interview arranged by mutual friends at a 
much later period. Mr. Gallatin's views were ac- 
cepted as the policy of the country, and after some 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 251 

shifting of parties, in which friends and foes 
changed ground in subordination to other political 
exigencies, they prevailed in the tariff of 1846, 
the best arranged and most reasonable which the 
United States has yet seen. The issue is again 
before the American people and fortunately with- 
out extraneous political circumstances to divert at- 
tention from its true merits. The signs of the 
times fail, if the result be not the same, and if 
the descendants of those Whigs who were scorn- 
fully termed " white crows," because they subor- 
dinated their economic ideas to what they held to 
be vital principles on the questions of executive 
power and the extension of slavery into the terri- 
tories, do not again turn the scale in favor of a 
revenue system in accord with the liberal spirit of 
the age. 

ADMINISTRATION. 

To arrive at a correct estimate of Mr. Galla- 
tin's administration of the Treasury Department, 
a cursory review of the establishment as he re- 
ceived it from the hands of Mr. Wolcott is neces- 
sary. This review is confined to administration 
in its limited sense, namely, the direction of its 
clerical management under the provisions of stat- 
ute law. The organization of the department as 
originated by Hamilton and established by the act 
of September 2, 1789, provided for a secretary of 
the treasury as head of the department, whose 



252 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

general duty should be to supervise the fiscal af- 
fairs of the country, and particularly to suggest 
and prepare plans for the improvement and sup- 
port of the public credit ; and, under his direction 
and supervision, a comptroller to adjust and pre- 
serve accounts ; an auditor to receive, examine, 
and rectify accounts ; a treasurer to receive, keep, 
and disburse moneys on warrants signed and coun- 
tersigned ; a register to keep the accounts of re- 
ceipts and expenditures ; and an assistant to the 
Secretary of the Treasury to fill any vacancy from 
absence or other temporary cause. In addition 
to the departments of State, Treasury, and War, 
a fourth, that of the Navy, was established April 
30, 1798. The three departments were brought 
into relation with that of the Treasury by an act 
passed July 16, 1798, supplementary to that or- 
ganizing the Treasury, and which provided, 1st, 
for the appointment of an accountant in each 
department, who was required to report to the 
accounting ofiBcer of the Treasury; 2d, that the 
Treasurer of the United States should only dis- 
burse by warrants on the Treasury, countersigned 
by the accountant of the Treasury ; 3d, that all 
purchases for supplies for military or naval ser- 
vice should be subject to the inspection and re- 
vision of the officers of the Treasury. Mr. Jef- 
ferson, after his usual fashion of economy in the 
wrong direction, proposed to Mr. Gallatin " to 
amalgamate the comptroller and auditor into one, 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 258 

and reduce the register to a clerk of accounts : so 
that the organization should consist, as it should 
at first, of a keeper of money, a keeper of ac- 
counts, and the head of the department." But in 
the Treasury Department there was no extrava- 
gance during Gallatin's administration, and the 
shifting of responsibility would bring no saving 
of salaries. 

In May, 1800, an act was passed making it " the 
duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest, 
prepare, and lay before Congress at the commence- 
ment of every session a report on the subject of 
finances, containing estimates of the public reve- 
nue and expenditures, and plans for improving 
and increasing the revenue from time to time, for 
the purpose of giving information to Congress in 
adopting modes for raising the money requisite to 
meet the expenditures." Hamilton had never 
sent in any other than a statement of expenditure 
for the past fiscal year, together with the esti- 
mate of the accountant of the Treasury for the 
proximate wants of the departments of govern- 
ment. Mr. Gallatin incorporated in his annual 
report a balance sheet in accordance with the or- 
dinary forms of book-keeping familiar to every 
accountant and indispensable in every business es- 
tablishment, and such as is presented to the pub- 
lic in the monthly and annual statements of the 
Treasury Department at this day. 

The statutes show no legislation during Mr. 



254 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Gallatin's period of administration, and to its 
close lie was in continual struggle to force upon 
Congress and the departments an accord with his 
pet plan of minute specific appropriation of the 
sums estimated for and expended by each. Mr. 
Madison heartily agreed with Mr. Gallatin on 
this subject, and on taking office placed the rela- 
tions of the State Department upon the desired 
footing. But the heads of the Army and Navy 
were never willing to consent to the strict lim- 
itation which Mr. Gallatin would have imposed 
on their expenditures. In his notes to Jeffer- 
son for the draft of his first message in 1801, 
Mr. Gallatin said that the most important reform 
he could suggest was that of ' specific appropri- 
ations,' and he inclosed an outline of a form to 
be enforced in detail. In January, 1802, he sent 
to Joseph H. Nicholson a series of inquiries to be 
addressed to himself by a special committee on 
the subject, with regard to the mode by which 
money was drawn from the Treasury and the situ- 
ation of accounts between that department and 
those of the Army and Navy. To these ques- 
tions he sent in to the House an elaborate reply, 
which he intended to be the basis of legislation. 
Strict appropriation was the ideal at which he 
aimed, and this word was so often on his tongue 
or in his messages that it could not be mentioned 
without a suggestion of his personality. He car- 
ried the same nicety of detail into his domestic 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 255 

life. He managed his own household expenses, 
and at a time when bountiful stores were the 
fashion in every household he insisted on a rigid 
observance of the more precise French system. 
He made an appropriation of a certain sum each 
day for his expenses, and required from his pur- 
veyor a strict daily account of disbursements. 
An amusing story is told of him at his own table. 
On an occasion when entertaining a company at 
dinner, he was dissatisfied with the menu and ex- 
pressed his disapprobation to his maitre d'hotel, 
a Frenchman, who replied to him in broken Eng- 
lish, that it was not his fault, but that of the 
" mal-appropriations." 

The example set by Mr. Gallatin in this partic- 
ular was never forgotten, and from his day to this 
strict accountability has been the tradition of the 
Treasury Department, now greatly increased in 
detail, but in structure essentially as it was orig- 
inally organized. Of its management Mr. Sher- 
man was able to say in his report of December 1, 
1879, " The organization of the several bureaus is 
such, and the system of accounting so perfect, that 
the financial transactions of the government dur- 
ing the past two years, aggregating $3,354,345,- 
040.53, have been adjusted without question with 
the exception of a few small balances, now in the 
process of collection, of which it is believed that the 
government will eventually lose less than f 13,000, 
or less than four mills for each $1,000 of the 



256 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

amount involved ; " and in 1880 he said with entire 
truth, " The department is a well organized and 
well conducted business office, depending mainly 
for its success upon the integrity and fidelity of 
the heads of bureaus and chiefs of divisions." 

BACKING. 

There is no more instructive chapter in the his- 
tory of finance than that upon the banking system 
of the United States. It has its distinct eras of 
radical change, each of which presents a series of 
tentative experiments. The outcome, by a proc- 
ess of development, in which political expedi- 
ency has been as effective an agency as financial 
necessity, is the present national banking system. 
Though the term government or national bank is 
constantly used in reference to the great banking 
institutions of England, France, and the United 
States, no one of these is in the true sense of the 
word a national bank. The Bank of England is 
a chartered corporation, the Bank of France an as- 
sociation instituted by law. The Bank of North 
America, and the Bank of the United States which 
followed it, were founded on the same principle. 
Both were corporations of individuals intimately 
connected with the government, enjoying certain 
privileges accorded and being under certain restric- 
tions, but otherwise independent of government 
control. 
yXhe Bank of North America, the first bank es* 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 257 

tablished in the United States, was also the first 
which had any direct relation to the government. 
It was the conception of the comprehensive and 
original mind of Robert Morris, the financier or 
superintendent of the public finances of the 
United States. Its purpose was not the conven- 
ience or profit of individuals, but to draw together 
the scattered financial resources of the country 
and found a public credit. He submitted his plan 
to Congress, which adopted a resolution of ap- 
proval May 26, 1781. The original plan contem- 
plated a capital of ten millions of dollars, but the 
collection of such a sum in gold and silver in one 
depository was beyond the range of possibility at 
that period, and the capital was finally fixed at 
four hundred thousand dollars, in one thousand 
shares of four hundred dollars each. Subscription 
books were immediately opened, but not more than 
f 70,000 was entered during the summer months. 
The arrival at Boston of a French war frigate 
with a remittance of $470,000 in specie, which 
was brought to Philadelphia and deposited in the 
vaults of the bank, enabled Mr. Morris to mature 
his plans. He designed to retain this sum in the 
bank as a specie basis ; but the necessities of the 
country were so urgent during the critical season 
of the Yorktown campaign, that nearly one half 
of it was exhausted before an organization could 
be effected. In December Congress passed an 
ordinance of incorporation. Mr. Morris then sub- 

17 



258 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

scribed the specie remaining in the treasury, about 
$254,000, for shares for account of the United 
States, which became thereby the principal stock- 
holder. The limit assigned by the ordinance re- 
mained, however, at ten millions of dollars. There 
was nothing in the acts of Congress which implied 
any exclusive right of the United States govern- 
ment in the bank except during the war of the 
Revolution. A local charter was obtained from 
the Legislature of Pennsylvania and the bank 
was opened in Philadelphia for the transaction of 
business in January, 1782. Its services to the gov- 
ernment during the period of the war were ines- 
timable. In the words of Hamilton, " American 
independence owes much to it." But after the 
war such were the local jealousies, the fears of op- 
pression, and the dread of foreign influence, that, 
on the petition of the inhabitants of Philadelphia 
and some of the neighboring counties, the Legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania repealed its charter on 
September 13, 1785. The bank continued its 
operations, however, under the charter from Con- 
gress. On March 17, 1787, the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania renewed the charter for fourteen 
years and limited the capital to two millions of 
dollars. The charter was extended for a similar 
term of fourteen years on March 26, 1799. Thus 
in the beginning of the American banking system 
are found that distrust and jealousy of money 
power which seem inherent in democracies. The 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 259 

exercise of state jurisdiction over the existence of 
the Bank of North America suggested possible 
embarrassments, which could not escape the dis- 
cernment of Hamilton, whose policy, as it was also 
that of the Federal party, was to strengthen the 
powers of the government in every vital branch of 
administration. 

In his comprehensive plan of government Ham- 
ilton included a financial institution to develop 
the national resources, strengthen the public credit, 
aid the Treasury Department in its administra- 
tion, and provide a secure and sound circulating 
medium for the people. On December 13, 1790, 
he sent in to Congress a report on the subject of 
a national bank. The Republican party, then in 
the minority, opposed the plan as unconstitutional, 
on the ground that the power of creating banks 
or any corporate body had not been expressly del- 
egated to Congress, and was therefore not possessed 
by it. Washington's cabinet was divided ; Jeffer- 
son opposing the measure as not within the im- 
plied powers, because it was an expediency and not 
a paramount necessity. Later he used stronger 
language, and denounced the institution as " one 
of the most deadly hostility existing against the 
principles and form of our Constitution," nor did 
he ever abandon these views. There is the au- 
thority of Mr. Gallatin for saying that Jefferson 
" died a decided enemy to our banking system gen- 
erally, and specially to a bank of the United 



260 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

States." But Hamilton's views prevailed. Wash- 
ington, who in the weary years of war had seen the 
imperative necessity of some national organization 
of the finances, after mature deliberation approved 
the plan, and on February 25, 1791, the Bank of 
the United States was incorporated. The capital 
stock was limited to twenty-five thousand shares 
of four hundred dollars each, or ten millions of 
dollars, payable one fourth in gold and silver, and 
three fourths in public securities bearing an inter- 
est of six and three per cent. The stock was im- 
mediately subscribed for, the government taking 
five thousand shares, two millions of dollars, under 
the right reserved in the charter. The subscrip- 
tion of the United States was paid in ten equal an- 
nual instalments. A large proportion of the stock 
was held abroad, and the shares soon rose above 
par. By an act of March 2, 1791, the funded three 
per cents were also made receivable in payment of 
subscriptions to the bank, whence it has been said 
that out of the funding system sprung the bank, 
as three fourths of its capital consisted of public 
stocks. Authority was given the bank to establish 
offices of discount and deposit within the United 
States. The chief bank was placed in Philadel- 
phia and branches were established in eight cities, 
with capitals in proportion to their commercial im- 
portance., 

In 1809 the stockholders of the Bank of the 
United States memorialized the government for a 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 261 

renewal of their charter, which would expire on 
March 4, 1811 ; and on March 9, 1809, Mr. Galla- 
tin sent in a report in which he reviewed the oper- 
ations of the bank from its organization. Of the 
government shares, five million dollars at par, two 
thousand four hundred and ninety-three shares 
were sold in 1796 and 1797 at an advance of 25 
per cent., two hundred and eighty-seven in 1797 
at an advance of 20 per cent., and the remaining 
2,220 shares in 1802, at an advance of 45 per cent., 
making together, exclusive of the dividends, a 
profit of 1671,680 to the United States. Eighteen 
thousand shares of the bank stock were held 
abroad, and seven thousand shares, or a little 
more than one fourth part of the capital, in the 
United States. A table of all the dividends 
made by the bank showed that they had on the 
average been at the rate of 8f (precisely 8jf ) per 
cent, a year, which proved that the bank had not 
in any considerable degree used the public depos- 
its for the purpose of extending its discounts. 
From a general view of the debits and credits, 
as presented, it appeared that the affairs of the 
Bank of the United States, considered as a mon- 
eyed institution, had been wisely and skilfully 
managed. The advantages derived by the gov- 
ernment Mr. Gallatin stated to be, 1, safe-keep- 
ing of the public moneys ; 2, transmission of the 
public moneys ; 3, collection of the revenue ; 4, 
loans. The strongest objection to the renewal of 



262 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

the charter lay in the great portion of the bank 
stock held by foreigners. Not on account of any 
influence over the institution, since they had no 
vote ; but because of the high rate of interest pay- 
able by America to foreign countries. If the char- 
ter were not renewed the principal of that portion, 
amounting to 87,200,000, must at once be remitted 
abroad ; but if the charter were renewed, dividends 
equal to an interest of about 8| per cent, per an- 
num must be remitted. Mr. Gallatin's report 
closed with the following suggestions: — 

I. That the bank should pay an interest to the 
United States on the public deposits above a cer- 
tain sum. 

II. That it should be bound to lend the United 
States a sum not exceeding three fifths of its capi- 
tal. 

III. That the capital stock of the bank should 
be increased to thirty millions of dollars, to be 
subscribed for, 1, five millions by citizens of the 
United States ; 2, fifteen millions by the States; 
a branch to be established in each subscribing 
State ; 3, payments by either individuals or States 
to be in specie or public stock of the United States 
at rates to be fixed by law ; the subscribing States 
to pay in ten annual instalments. 

IV. That some share should be given in the di- 
rection to the general and state governments by 
appointment of directors in the general direction 
and branches. 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 263 

The result of this plan would be, 1st, that the 
United States might, from the interest on the 
public deposits, accumulate during years of peace 
and prosperity a treasure sufficient to meet peri- 
ods of war and calamity ; 2d, that they might 
rely on a loan of eighteen millions of dollars 
in any sudden emergency ; 3d, that by the pay- 
ment in ten instalments the increase in capital 
would be in proportion to the progressive state 
of the country ; 4th, that the bank itself would 
form an additional bond of common interest and 
union amongst the several States. But these ar- 
guments availed not against the blind and igno- 
rant jealousy of the Republican majority in the 
House. The days of the bank were numbered. 
Congress refused to prolong its existence and the 
institution was dissolved. Fortunately for the 
country, it wound up its affairs with such delibera- 
tion and prudence as to allow of the interposition 
of other bank credits in lieu of those withdrawn, 
and thus prevented a serious shock to the interests 
of the community. In the twenty years of its ex- 
istence from 1791 to 1811 its management was ir- 
reproachable. Its annual dividends from 1791 
to 1809 were 8f per cent., and its stock, always 
above par, from 1805 to 1809 ranged from 20 to 
40 per cent, premium. 

In its numerous and varied relations to the gov- 
ernment it had been a useful and faithful servant, 
and its directors had never assumed the attitude 



264 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

of money kings, of which the Jeffersonian democ- 
racy pretended to stand in hourly dread. To the 
general and important nature of its financial ser- 
vice Mr. Gallatin gave his testimony in 1830; 
after his own direct participation in public affairs 
had ended. 

" Experience, however, has since confirmed the great 
utility and importance of a bank of the United States 
in its connection with the Treasury. The first great ad- 
vantage derived from it consists in the safe-keeping of 
the public moneys, securing in the first instance the im- 
mediate payment of those received by the principal col- 
lectors, and affording a constant check on all their trans- 
actions ; and afterwards rendering a defalcation in the 
moneys once paid, and whilst nominally in the treasury, 
absolutely impossible. The next, and not less impor- 
tant, benefit is to be found in the perfect facility with 
which all the public payments are made by checks or 
treasury drafts, payable at any place where the bank 
has an office ; all those who have demands against gov- 
ernment are paid in the place most convenient to them ; 
and the public moneys are transferred through our exten- 
sive territory at a moment's warning without any risk 
or expense, to the places most remote from those of col- 
lection, and wherever public exigencies may require." 

Late in life, in a letter to John M. Botts, June 
14, 1841, Mr. Gallatin expressed the same opinions 
with regard to the usefulness of a government 
bank as an aid to the Treasury Department, 
but limited his approval to that use. '* Except 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 265 

in its character of fiscal agent to the general gov- 
ernment I attach much less importance to a na- 
tional bank than several of those who are in fa- 
vor of it." " Did I believe," he adds in the same 
letter, " that a bank of the United States would 
effectually secure us a sound currency, I would 
think it a duty at all hazards to promote the ob- 
ject." 

The reason for his doubts in 1841 is easily 
seen in the impossibility of annihilating or con- 
trolling the three hundred district currencies of 
as many banks, each nominally convertible into 
specie at its point of issue ; a financial puzzle 
which Mr. Chase solved in the device and organ- 
ization of the present national banking system, 
which, without involving the government in bank- 
ing operations, affords to the people a homoge- 
neous currency of uniform value, and secures its 
convertibility by reasonable but absolute restric- 
tions, upon conformity to which the existence of 
the banks depends. The exigencies of war com- 
pelled an acquiescence in the plans of Mr. Chase, 
which, at the time when Mr. Gallatin expressed 
his doubts, could not have been had in any system 
whatever which involved the subordination of the 
banks. 

The wide spread of the state bank system, 
with its irresponsible and unlimited issues, occur- 
ring subsequent to Mr. Gallatin's withdrawal from 
the Treasury, was a consequence of the failure 



266 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

to renew the charter of the Bank of the United 
States ; and if ever there were a system by which 
the inhabitants of States, whose floating capital 
was small, were placed at the mercy of moneyed 
corporations of the States where it was abundant, 
it was the state bank system. The experience of 
the old confederation had not taught this lesson. 
The colonial system was continued by the several 
States, and bills of credit were issued on their 
faith. The continental system was a compound 
of the main features of this plan. The biUs were 
issued by the Congress, but the States were relied 
upon for their ultimate redemption. 

The collapse of the entire fabric of finance led 
to the establishment of the Bank of North Amer- 
ica, the notes of which were redeemable and re- 
deemed at the bank counters. The article in the 
Constitution of 1787, prohibiting the issue of 
bills of credit by the States, was evidently in- 
tended to secure a uniform currency to the peo- 
ple of the United States, and it has been by a 
strange perversion of this manifest intention that 
the power has been conceded to the States to char- 
ter corporations to do that which was forbidden 
to themselves in their sovereign capacity ; namely, 
to issue bills of credit, which bank-notes are. It 
is idle to say that, because such bills were not a 
" legal tender," they were therefore not of the 
character which the Constitution forbade. Neces- 
sity knows no law, and in the absence of any other 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 



267 



currency the people were perforce compelled to 
take what they could get. Experience later showed 
that large amounts of paper money manufactured 
in one State were easily put in circulation in 
far distant communities, and considerable sums 
through the operations of wear and tear and the 
vicissitudes incident to its fragile nature, never 
returned to plague the inventor. 

At the time of the organization of the National 
Bank by Hamilton, there were but three banks in 
the United States : the Bank of North America, 
the Bank of New York, and the Bank of Massa- 
chusetts. Their added capital amounted to two 
millions of dollars, and their issues were inconsid- 
erable. 

Mr. Gallatin estimated that in January, 1811, 
just before the expiration of the bank charter, 
there were in the United States eighty-eight state 
banks with a capital of $42,612,000. 





Capital. 


Notes in Circu- 
lation. 


Specie 


Bank of the United States 
Eighty-eight State Banks 


$10,000,000 
42,610,601 


$5,400,000 
22,700,000 


$5,800,000 
9,600,000 




$52,610,601 


$28,100,000 


$15,400,000 



Over the local institutions the Bank of the 
United States always exercised a salutary control, 
checking any disposition to overtrade by restrain- 



268 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ing their issues and holding them to a proper 
specie reserve ; and this by no other interference 
except its countenance or ill favor, as such banks 
severally observed or disregarded the ordinary 
rules of financial prudence. The immediate ef- 
fect of the refusal of Congress to recharter the 
Bank of the United States was to bring the 
Treasury to the verge of bankruptcy. The in- 
terference of Parish, Girard, and Astor alone 
saved the credit of the government, and this in- 
terference w^as no doubt prompted by self-inter- 
est. That Mr. Astor vras hostile to the bank is 
certain. Gallatin wrote to Madison in January, 
1811, that Mr. Astor had sent him a verbal mes- 
sage, " that in case of non-renewal of the charter 
of the Bank of the United States, all his funds 
and those of his friends, to the amount of two mil- 
lions of dollars, would be at the command of gov- 
ernment, either in importing specie, circulating 
government paper, or in any other way best cal- 
culated to prevent any injury arising from the 
dissolution of the bank," and he added that Mr. 
Bentson, Mr. Astor's son-in-law, in communicating 
this message said, " that in this instance profit was 
not Mr. Astor's object, and that he would go great 
lengths, partly from pride and partly from wish, to 
see the bank down." In 1813, when the bank was 
" down," Mr. Gallatin was no longer master of the 
situation. He offered to treat directly with Parish, 
Girard, and Astor for ten millions of dollars, but 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 269 

fiiKiing some hesitation, he opened the loan for sub- 
scription. When the subscription failed, he was 
at the mercy of the capitalists. 

Another immediate effect of the dissolution of 
the bank was the withdrawal from the country 
of the foreign capital invested in the bank, more 
than seven millions of dollars. This amount was 
remitted, in the twelve months preceding the war, 
in specie. Specie was at that time a product for- 
eign to the United States, and by no means easy 
to obtain. Specie, as Mr. Gallatin profoundly ob- 
served, does not precede, but follows wealth. The 
want of it nearly destroyed Morris's original plan 
for the Bank of North America, and was only 
made up by the fortunate receipt of the French 
remittances. In 1808 the specie in the vaults of 
the Treasury reached fourteen millions of dollars, 
but during the operation of the Embargo Act, the 
banks of New England had gradually accumulated 
a specie reserve, and that of Richmond, Virginia, 
pursued the same policy. Together they held one 
third of the entire specie reserve of the banks. 
The amount of specie in the Bank of the United 
States, January 1, 1811, had fallen to $5,800,000, 
which soon found its way abroad. 

The notes of the Bank of the United States, 
payable on demand in gold and silver at the coun- 
ters of the bank, or any of its branches, were, by 
its charter, receivable in all payments to the United 
States; but this quality was also stripped from 



270 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

them on March 19, 1812, by a repeal of the act 
according it. To these disturbances of the finan- 
cial equilibrium of the country was added the 
necessary withdrawal of fifteen millions of bank 
credit and its transfer to other institutions. This 
gave an extraordinary impulse to the establish- 
ment of local banks, each eager for a share of the 
profits. The capital of the country, instead of 
being concentrated, was dissipated. Between Jan- 
uary 1, 1811, and 1815, one hundred and twenty 
new banks were chartered, and forty millions of 
dollars were added to the banking capital. To 
realize profits, the issues of paper were pushed to 
the extreme of possible circulation. Meanwhile 
New England kept aloof from the nation. The 
specie in the vaults of the banks of Massachusetts 
rose from $1,706,000 on June 1, 1811, to 17,326,000 
on June 1, 1814. This was a consequence of the 
New England policy of opposition. Mr. Gallatin 
estimated that the proceeds of loans, exclusively of 
treasury notes and temporary loans, paid into the 
treasury from the commencement of the war to 
the end of the year 1814 were $41,010,000 : of 
which sum the Eastern States lent $2,900,000 ; the 
Middle States, $35,790,000 ; Southwestern States, 
$2,320,000. 

The floating debt of the United States, consist^ 
ing of treasury notes and temporary loans unpaid, 
amounted, January 1, 1815, to $11,250,000, ol 
which nearly four fifths were loaned by the cities 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 271 

of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and 
the District of Columbia. The suspension of the 
banks was precipitated by the capture of Wash- 
ington. It began in Baltimore, which was threat- 
ened by the British, and was at once followed 
in Philadelphia and New York. Before the end 
of September all the banks south and west of 
New England had suspended specie payment. In 
his "Considerations on the Currency," Mr. Galla- 
tin expressed his 

"deliberate opinion that the suspension might have 
been prevented at the time when it took place, had the 
Bank of the United States been in existence. The ex- 
aggerated increase of state banks, occasioned by the 
dissolution of that institution, would not have occurred. 
That bank would as before have restrained them within 
proper bounds and checked their issues, and through the 
means of its offices it would have been in possession of 
the earliest symptoms of the approaching danger. It 
would have put the Treasury Department on its guard ; 
both, acting in concert, would certainly have been able, 
at least, to retard the event ; and as the treaty of peace 
was ratified within less than six months after the sus- 
pension took place, that catastrophe would have been 
avoided." 

But within fifteen months the bank issues in- 
creased from forty-five and a half to sixty millions. 



272 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 





Capital. 


Circulation. 


Specie. 


Banks of New England . 
Other Banks 


$15,690,000 
66,930,000 


$5,320,000 
44,730,000 


$8,200,000 
8,600,000 


1815. 208 State Banks . 

1816. 216 State Banks . 


$82,620,000 
89,822,422 


$50,050,000 
68,000,000 


$16,800,000 
19,000,000 



The depression of the local currencies ranged from 
seven to twenty-five per cent. In New York and 
Charleston it was seven to ten per cent, below 
the par of coin. At Philadelphia from seventeen 
to eighteen per cent. At Washington and Balti- 
more from twenty to twenty-two, and at Pitts- 
burgh and on the frontier, twenty-five per cent, 
below par. The circulating medium, or measure 
of values, being doubled, the price of commodities 
was doubled. The agiotage, of course, was the 
profit of the bankers and brokers ; a sum esti- 
mated at six millions of dollars a year, or ten per 
cent, on the exchanges of the country, which Mc- 
Duffie, in his celebrated report, estimated at sixty 
millions annually. 

In November the Treasury Department found 
itself involved in the common disaster. The re- 
fusal of the banks, in which the public moneys 
were deposited, to pay their notes or the drafts 
upon them in specie deprived the government of 
its gold and silver ; and their refusal, likewise, of 
credit and circulation to the issues of banks in 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 273 

other States deprived the government also of the 
only means it possessed for transferring its funds 
to pay the dividends on the debt and discharge 
the treasury notes. Mr. Dallas found himself 
compelled to appeal to the banks by circular to 
subscribe for sufficient treasury notes to secure 
them such advances as might be asked of them for 
the discharge of the public obligations. 

" In the latter end of the year 1814," says Mr. 
Gallatin, "Mr. Jefferson suggested the propriety 
of a gradual issue by government of two hundred 
millions of dollars in paper " ; commenting upon 
which Mr. Gallatin remarks that Mr. Jefferson, 
from the imperfect data in his possession, "greatly 
overrated the amount of paper currency which 
could be sustained at par ; and he had, on the other 
hand, underrated the great expenses of the war ; " 
but at "all events," he adds, " the issue of govern- 
ment paper ought to be kept in reserve for ex- 
traordinary circumstances." But here it may be 
remarked that the evolution of the systems of 
American finance seems to lead slowly but surely 
to an entire divorce of banking from currency, 
and the day is not far distant when the circulating 
medium of the United States will consist of gold 
and silver, and of government issues restricted, ac- 
cording to the English principle, to the minimum 
of circulation, and kept equivalent to coin by a 
specie reserve in the treasury ; while the banks, 
their circulation withdrawn and the institutions 

18 



274 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

freed from any tax, will be confined to their legit- 
imate business of receiving deposits and making 
loans and discounts. 

On October 14, 1814, Alexander J. Dallas, Mr. 
Gallatin's old friend, who had been appointed 
Secretary of the Treasury on the 6th of the same 
month, in a report of a plan to support the public 
credit, proposed the incorporation of a national 
bank. A bill was passed by Congress, but returned 
to it by Madison with his veto on January 15, 1815. 
In this peculiar document Madison "waived the 
question of the constitutional authority of the leg- 
islature to establish an incorporated bank, as being 
precluded, in his judgment, by repeated recogni- 
tions, under varied circumstances, of the validity 
of such an institution in acts of the legislative, 
executive, and judicial branches of the govern- 
ment." But he objected for reasons of detail. 
Mr. Dallas again, as a last resort, insisted on a 
bank as the only means by which the currency. of 
the country could be restored to a sound condition. 
In December, 1815, Dallas reported to the com- 
mittee of the House of Representatives on the 
national currency, of which John C. Calhoun was 
chairman, a plan for a national bank, and on 
March 3, 1816, the second Bank of the United 
States was chartered by Congress. The capital 
was thirty-five millions, of which the government 
held seven millions in seventy thousand shares of 
one hundred dollars each. Mr. Madison approved 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 275 

the bill. This completed the abandonment of 
every shred of principle claimed by the Republi- 
can party as their rule of action. They struggled 
through the rest of their existence without a polit- 
ical conviction. The national bank, and the system 
of internal taxation which had been scorned by 
Jefferson and Madison as unconstitutional, were 
accepted actually under Madison's administration. 
Gallatin's success, owing to the development and 
application of Hamilton's plans, was a complete 
vindication of the theory and practice of the Fed- 
eralists which they abhorred ; Jefferson's plan of 
a government issue of paper money was a higher 
flight into the upper atmosphere of implied powers 
than Hamilton ever dreamed of. 

The second national bank of the United States 
was also located at Philadelphia, and chartered for 
twenty years. The manner in which it performed 
its financial service is admirably set forth in Mr. 
Gallatin's " Considerations on the Currency," al- 
ready mentioned. It acted as a regulator upon the 
state banks, checked excessive issues on their part, 
and brought the paper currency of the country 
down from sixty-six to less than forty millions, 
before the year 1820. 

In April, 1816, Mr. Dallas having signified his 
intention to resign the Treasury, Mr. Madison 
wrote to Gallatin, offering him his choice between 
the mission to France and the Treasury Depart- 
ment. Mr. Gallatin's reply was characteristic. 



i^ 



276 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

He declined the Treasury, but with reluctance, 
since he thought he would be more useful at home 
than abroad, and because he preferred to be in 
America rather than in Europe. One of his pre- 
ponderating reasons was that, although he felt 
himself competent to the higher duties of the office, 
there was, for what he conceived " a proper man- 
agement of the Treasury, a necessity for a mass of 
mechanical labor connected with details, forms, 
calculating, etc., which, having lost sight of the 
thread and routine, he could not think of again 
learning and going through." He was aware that 
there was " much confusion due to the changes of 
office and the state of the currency, and thought 
that an active young man could alone reinstate 
and direct properly that department." 

In June of the same year, while waiting for the 
Peacock, which was to carry him across the sea, 
Gallatin wrote Mr, Madison an urgent letter, im- 
pressing upon him the necessity of restoring specie 
payment, and his perfect conviction that nothing 
but the will of the government was wanted to rein- 
state the country in its moral character in that re- 
spect. He dreaded the " paper taint," which he 
found spreading as he journeyed northward. 

In January, 1817, delegates from the banks of 
N"ew York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Virginia 
<net in Philadelphia and agreed to a general and 
simultaneous resumption of specie payments. The 
Bank of the United States proposed a compact 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 277 

which was accepted by the state banks and rati- 
fied by the Secretary of the Treasury. That in- 
stitution engaged, to a reasonable extent, to sup- 
port any bank menaced. This engagement and 
the importation of seven millions of specie from 
abroad by the Bank of the United States secured 
a general restoration of specie payment. In 1822 
Mr. Gallatin was tendered and declined the office 
of president of the Bank of the United States. 

In 1829 he prepared for Mr. Ingham, then Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, a masterly statement of 
the relative value of gold and silver. In 1830 
Mr. Gallatin wrote for the '' American Quarterly 
Review " his essay, " Considerations on the Cur- 
rency and Banking System of the United States." 
Appearing at the time when the renewal of the 
charter of the Bank of the United States was an 
absorbing question, this essay was equally sought 
for by both the friends and opponents of the bank. 
It is not confined, however, to this subject, but cov- 
ers the entire field of American finance. His treat- 
ment of the currency question was novel. He 
analyzed the systems of Europe, compared them 
with those which prevailed in the United States, 
and reached the conclusion, the general correct- 
ness of which has been justified by the experience 
of all other nations, and sooner or later will be 
accepted by our own, namely, the necessity of a 
currency strong in the precious metals, and the re- 
striction of paper money to notes of one hundred 



278 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

dollars to be issued by the government. This 
limit is higher than that adopted in France and 
England, but the general principle that a circulat- 
ing medium is sound only as it is strong in gold 
and silver, and that gold and silver can only be 
retained permanently by making a place for them 
in the circulating medium by a restriction of paper 
issues, will yet find favor even in this paper-loving 
country. 

In 1832 Mr. Gallatin accepted the presidency of 
a bank in New York, the subscription to the stock 
of which, $750,000, was completed by Mr. John 
Jacob Astor on condition that Mr. Gallatin should 
manage its affairs. The direction of its concerns, 
without absorbing his time, kept him in the finan- 
cial current. The bank was called the National 
Bank of New York. But not in this modest 
post was he to find the financial path smooth. It 
is true he had lived in the flesh to see the finan- 
cial millennium. The rapid growth of the country 
and the faithful adherence of his successors in the 
Treasury Department to the funding principle 
had at last realized his dream. The national debt 
was extinguished. The last dollar was paid. Louis 
McLane, Secretary of the Treasury, on December 
5, 1832, in his report on the finances, said that the 
dividends derived from the bank shares held by 
the United States were more than was required 
to pay the interest, and that the debt might there- 
fore be considered as substantially extinguished 
after January 1, 1833. 



SECRETARY OF TEE TREASURY. 279 

On December 3, 1833, Roger B. Taney, Secre* 
tary of the Treasury, reported to Congress that 
he had directed the removal of the deposits of the 
government from the Bank of the United States 
and placed them in banks of his own selection. 
He gave a number of reasons for this extraordinary 
exercise of the power which he obtained by his 
appointment on September 23, 1833. He received 
his reward in June, 1834, being then transferred by 
President Jackson to the seat of Chief Justice of 
the Supreme Court. In his annual report Taney 
named, among his elaborate reasons for the re- 
moval, that the bank had used its money for elec- 
tioneering purposes, and that he "had always re- 
garded the result of the last election of President of 
the United States as the declaration of a majority 
of the people that the charter ought not to be re- 
newed." He further expressed the opinion "that 
a corporation of that description was not necessary 
either for the fiscal operations of the government 
or the general convenience of the people." It 
mattered little to him that Mr. Gallatin had only 
recently pointed out that from the year 1791 the 
operations of the Treasury had, without interrup- 
tion, been carried on through the medium of 
banks ; during the years 1811 to 1814, by the 
state banks, with a result which no one had as yet 
forgotten ; before and since that brief interval 
through the Bank of the United States. Enough 
for Taney, that it was the will of his imperious 



280 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

master, ' the pugnacious animal,' as Gallatin aptly 
termed him. 

In October, 1834, Taney's successor in the 
Treasury, Levi Woodbury, gave notice that the 
remaining debt, unredeemed after January 1, 1835, 
would cease to bear interest and be promptly paid 
on application to the commissioners of loans in 
the several states. On December 8, 1835, Mr. 
Woodbury reported " an unprecedented spectacle 
presented to the world of a government virtually 
without any debts and without any direct tax- 
ation." The surplus revenues, about thirty-seven 
and a half millions of dollars, had by an act of the 
previous session been distributed among the sev- 
eral states. But the Secretary and the country 
soon found that they were on dangerous ground. 
In December, 1837, the same Secretary, alarmed 
at his responsibility, said to Congress, in warning 
words, " We are without any national debt to 
absorb and regulate surpluses, or any adequate 
supply of banking institutions which provide a 
sound currency for general purposes by paying 
specie on demand, or which are in a situation fully 
to command confidence for keeping, disbursing, 
and transferring the public funds in a satisfactory 
manner." 

The Bank of the United States, on the expira- 
tion of its charter in March, 1836, accepted a char* 
ter from the State of Pennsylvania ; but, though 
its influence continued to be as great, its direction 



i 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 281 

was no longer the same. Abandoning its legiti- 
mate business, it speculated in merchandise, and 
even kept an agent in New Orleans to compete 
with the Barings in purchases of the cotton crop 
as a basis for exchange. Precisely as in 1811, 
after the withdrawal of the control of the Bank of 
the United States, the state banks ran a wild career 
of speculation. From 1830 to 1837 three hundred 
new banks sprang up with an additional capital of 
one hundred and forty-five millions, doubling, as 
twenty years before, the banking capital of the 
country. This volume the deposits of the Treas- 
ury continued to swell. Mr. Woodbury was the 
first to take alarm. In December, 1836, he re- 
ported the specie in the country to have increased 
from thirty millions in 1833 to seventy-three mil- 
lions at the date of his report, and the paper 
circulation, in the same period, to have advanced, 
since the removal of the deposits from the Bank 
of the United States, from eighty millions to one 
hundred and twenty millions, or forty millions in 
eighteen months ; and the bank capital, in the same 
period, to have increased from two hundred to 
three hundred millions. Importation augmented ; 
the balance of trade suddenly turned against the 
United States to the extent of one hundred and 
fifty millions, and coin began to flow abroad to 
liquidate the account. There was no debt to at- 
tract foreign investment and arrest the export of 
specie. Added to this was the withdrawal of the 



282 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

government deposits from the pet bank, whicb 
compelled an immediate contraction. The result 
was inevitable. On May 10, 1837, the New York 
banks suspended, Mr. Gallatin's institution being 
of course dragged down with the rest. It is idle 
to suppose that any single bank can hold out 
against a general suspension. It may liquidate or 
become a bank of deposits, but it cannot maintain 
its relations with its sister institutions except on a 
basis of common accord. 

A general suspension followed. Mr. Woodbury 
proved himself equal to the emergency, and recom- 
mended a plan of " keeping the public money 
under new legislative provisions without using 
banks at all as fiscal agents." This was the begin- 
ning of the sub-treasurjT- system, a new departure 
in treasury management, and a further evolution 
in American finance. It still remains, and will no 
doubt be permanent. Its establishment was easy 
because of the absence of a national debt. 

Mr. Gallatin at once turned his attention to 
bring about first a liquidation and then a resump- 
tion. It was a favorite maxim with him, that 
" the agonies of resumption are far harder to en- 
dure than those of suspension," as it is easier to 
refrain from lapse of virtue than to restore moral 
integrity once impaired. But in resumption the 
suffering falls where it belongs, on the careless, 
the improvident, and the over-trader. 

On August 15, 1837, the officers of the banks of 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 283 

New York city, in a general meeting, appointed a 
committee of three to call a convention of the 
principal banks to agree upon a time for a re- 
sumption of specie payments. This committee, 
of which Mr. Gallatin was chairman, on August 
18 addressed a circular to the principal banks in 
the United States, inviting the expression of their 
wishes as to the time and place for a convention, 
suggesting New York as the place, and October, 

1837, as the time. They said, in addition, that 
the banks of New York city, in view of the law 
of the state dissolving them as legal corporations 
in case of suspension for one year, must resume 
at some time between January 1 and March 15, 

1838. The circular committed the New York 
banks to no definite action, but expressed the opin- 
ion that the fall in the rate of exchanges indicated 
an early return of specie to par, when resumption 
could be effected without danger. The banks 
of Philadelphia held a meeting on August 29, 
and adopted resolutions declaring it inexpedient 
to appoint delegates to the proposed convention. 
Aware of the reasons for this action, the chief of 
which was the extended and perhaps insolvent 
condition of the United States Bank of Penn- 
sylvania, the New York committee invited the 
banks in the several States to appoint delegates to 
meet on November 27, 1837, in New York. Dele- 
gates from banks of seventeen states and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia appeared. On the 30th reso- 



284 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

lutions were brought in recommending a general 
resumption on July 1, without precluding an ear- 
lier resumption on the part of such banks as 
might find it necessary. The Pennsylvania banks 
opposed this action with resolutions condemning 
the idea of immediate resumption as impractica- 
ble, and also, in the absence of delegates from 
the banks of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and 
Tennessee, as unwise. The convention met again 
on December 2, when an adjournment was carried 
to April 11, 1838, when delegates from the banks 
not represented were invited to attend. Mr. Gal- 
latin saw that the combination of the Philadelphia 
and Boston banks, under the lead of Mr. Biddle, 
would certainly force a further postponement. 
Exchange on London, which had been as high as 
121, the true par being about 109i, nominal, had 
fallen to 111^, which, considering that the city 
bank paper was at a discount of five per cent., 
was at the rate of 2\ per cent, below specie par. 
The exportation of specie had entirely ceased. 

On December 15 Mr. Gallatin and his commit- 
tee appointed at the general convention submitted 
a report which he had drafted, which, though 
addressed to the New York banks, covered the 
whole ground. Meanwhile the highest authority 
in Pennsylvania had given it as his opinion " that 
the banks of Pennsylvania were in a much sounder 
state than before the suspension, and that the re- 
sumption of specie payments, so far as it depends 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 285 

on their situation and resources, may take place 
at any time." 

On February 28, 1838, Mr. Gallatin's committee 
made a further report showing that the liabilities 
of the New York banks had been reduced more 
than twelve millions and a half, or fifty per cent., 
and asserting that with the support of the com- 
munity and the state authorities they could resume 
on an equal footing on May 10. This declaration 
was welcomed with great satisfaction by a general 
meeting of the citizens of New York. On April 
11 the general convention again met in New York. 
The Philadelphia banks declined to attend. A 
letter from Mr. Woodbury promised the support 
of the Treasury Department. A committee of one 
from each state was appointed, which recommended 
the first Monday in October as the earliest day for 
a general resumption. The convention could not, 
however, be brought to fix upon so early a day, but 
finally fixed upon January, 1, 1839, and adjourned. 
The New York banks would have accepted July 1, 
18? 8, but this being refused they resumed alone 
on May 10, and the force of public opinion com- 
pelled resumption by nearly all the banks of the 
country on July 1. 

The terrible contraction was fatal to the United 
States Bank of Pennsylvania, which after a vain 
struggle closed its doors in October, 1839, and 
carried with it the entire banking system of the 
Southern and Southwestern States. Although in 



286 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

no way similar to the semi-governmental institu- 
tions which preceded it, yet, from its similarity of 
name and identity of location, its disastrous fail- 
ure added to the blind popular distrust of its prede- 
cessors, which narrow-minded politicians had fos- 
tered for their own selfish purposes. Fortunately 
the sub-treasury plan of Mr. Woodbury supplied 
the need of a safe place of deposit which, since the 
refusal of Congress to renew the charter of the old 
bank, had been sorely felt. 

In 1838, on the foundation of the Bank of Com- 
merce under the free banking law of the State 
of New York, the presidency of it was first ten- 
dered to Mr. Gallatin. The directors of this bank 
were among the most distinguished financiers of 
the city, and its object was to provide a conser- 
vative institution with sufficient power and capital 
to act as a regulator upon the New York banks. 
Profit to the stockholders was secondary to the 
reserve power for general advantage. 

In June, 1839, Mr. Gallatin resigned his post 
as president of the National Bank of New York. 
In 1841 he published a financial essay, which" 
he entitled " Suggestions on the Banks and Cur- 
rency of the United States," a paper full of infor- 
mation, but from the nature of the subject not to 
be compared in general interest with his earlier 
paper, which is as fresh to-day as when it was 
written. Mr. Gallatin condemned paper currency 
as an artificial stimulus, and the ultimate object 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 287 

of his essays was to annihilate what he termed the 
" dangerous instrument." He admitted its utility 
and convenience, when used with great sobriety, 
but he deprecated its tendency to degenerate into 
a depreciated and irredeemable currency. This 
tendency the present national banking law arrests, 
but the law rather invites than prohibits the stim- 
ulus of increased issues. The last word has not 
yet been said on national currency, which, though 
the basis of all commercial transactions, has neces- 
sarily no other relation to banks than that which 
it holds to any individual in the community. 

Economic questions have interested the highest 
order of mind on the two continents. Sismondi 
published a paper on commercial wealth in 1803, 
and in 1810 a memoir on paper money, which he 
prepared to show how it might be suppressed in 
the Austrian dominions ; Humboldt made a special 
study of the sources and quantity of the precious 
metals in the world, in which Mr. Gallatin aided 
him by investigation in America. Michel Cheva- 
lier was interested in the same subjects ; surviving 
his two masters in the art and witnessing the mar- 
vellous effects of the additions made by America 
to the store of precious metals, he continued the 
study in the spirit of his predecessors, and favored 
the world with instructive papers. Mr. Gallatin's 
contributions to this science are remarkable for 
minute research and careful deductions. 

In 1843 President Tyler tendered the Treasury 



288 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

portfolio to Mr. Gallatin. The venerable financier 
looked upon the offer as an act of folly to which a 
serious answer seemed hardly necessary. Yet as 
silence might be misconstrued, he replied that he 
wanted no office, and to accept at his age that of 
Secretary of the Treasury would "be an act of 
insanity." He was then in his eighty-third year. 
Thus, by an ill-considered caprice of Mr. Tyler, 
Mr. Gallatin's connection with the finances of the 
United States was completed in the manner with 
which it commenced, the tender of the Treasury 
Department. 



CHAPTER VII. 

IN THE CABINET. 

The general principles which Mr. Jefferson pro- 
posed to apply in his conduct of the government 
were not principles of organization but of admin- 
istration. The establishments devised by Hamil- 
ton, in accordance with or in development of 
the provisions of the Constitution, were organic. 
The new policy was essentially restrictive and 
economic. The military and naval establishments 
were to be kept at their lowest possible limit. 
The Treasury Department was to be conducted 
on strictly business principles. The debt was to 
be reduced and finally paid by a fixed annual ap- 
propriation. The revenue was to be raised by im- 
posts on importation and tonnage, and by direct 
taxation, if necessary. The public land system 
was to be developed. A scheme of internal im- 
provements by land and water highways was to 
be devised. All these purposes except the last 
had been declared by the opposition during the 
last part of Washington's second term and during 
Adams's presidency, and had been lucidly ex- 
pounded by Madison, Gallatin, Giles, Nicholas, 
and others of the Republican leaders. On all 
Id 



290 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

these subjects Mr. Gallatin was in accord with his 
chief. Only upon the bank question were they at 
issue. Mr. Jefferson detested or feared the aris- 
tocracy of money, while Gallatin, with a clearer 
insight into commercial and financial questions, 
recognized that in a young country where capital 
was limited, and specie in still greater dispropor- 
tion to the increasing demands of trade, a well- 
ordered, well-managed money institution was an 
enormous advantage, if not an imperative neces- 
sity to the government and the people. 

Peace was necessary to the success of this gen- 
eral policy of internal progress, but peace was not 
to be had for the asking. It was not till half a 
century later that the power of the western con- 
tinent as a food-producing country was fully felt 
by Europe, and peace with the United States 
became almost a condition of existence to millions 
in the Old World, while this country became in- 
dependent, in fact as in name, to the fullest mean- 
ing of the word. Peace was not menaced during 
Jefferson's first administration, for the Federalists 
had left no legacy of diplomatic discord to em- 
barrass their successors. The divisions of opinion 
were on home affairs. The Republican party was 
the first opposition which had reached power 
since the formation of the government. The Fed- 
eralists had not hesitated to confine the patronage 
of the Executive to men of their own way of think- 
ing. The Republicans had attacked that principle. 



IN THE CABINET, 291 

There were men even in the ranks of Jefferson's 
administration who scouted the idea that the Pres- 
ident of the United States could become " the 
President of a party." But practice and principle 
are not always in accord, even in administrations 
of sentimental purity, and the pressure for office 
was as great in 1800 as it has ever since been on 
the arrival of a new party to power. Beyond all 
other departments of government, the Treasury de- 
pends for its proper service upon business capacity 
and a knowledge of the principles of accounting 
and office routine, Mr. Gallatin was well aware of 
the difficulties his predecessors had encountered in 
finding and retaining competent examining and 
auditing clerks. As there was no reason to sup- 
pose that all this talent was to be found in the 
ranks of the Republican party, and his common 
sense pointed out the folly of limiting the market 
of supply, he early (July 25, 1801) prepared a 
circular to collectors, in which he informed them 
" that the door of office was no longer to be shut 
against any man because of his political opinions, 
but that integrity and capacity suitable to the sta- 
tion were to be the only qualifications required ; 
and further, the President, considering freedom of 
opinion or freedom of suffrage at public elections 
imprescriptible rights of citizens, would regard any 
exercise of official influence to sustain or control 
the same rights in others as injurious to the public 
administration and practically destructive of the 



292 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

fundamental principles of a republican Constitu- 
tion." But Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison op- 
posed this simple declaration of a principle which 
has since been the base of every attempt at reform 
in the civil service. Mr. Jefferson answered that 
after one half of the subordinates were exchanged, 
talents and worth might alone be inquired into in 
the case of new vacancies. This was a miserable 
shuffling policy which defeated itself. For a Fed- 
eralist to retain office when such a discrimination 
was applied was of itself a degradation. Mr. Jef- 
ferson here threw away and forever lost the power 
to establish the true system, and fixed the curse 
of patronage upon American administration. The 
true principle may be stated in the form of an 
axiom. Administrations should rely for continua- 
tion upon measures, not on patronage. Gallatin 
yielded with reluctance to the spirit of persecution 
which he did not hesitate to say disgraced the Re- 
publican cause, and sank them to a level with 
their predecessors. Notwithstanding his aversion, 
he was compelled to follow the policy of the cab- 
inet. Its first result was to divide the Republican 
party, and to alienate Burr, whose recommenda- 
tion of Matthew L. Davis for the naval office at 
New York was disregarded. Had the new admin- 
istration declined to make removals except for 
cause, such a dispute would have been avoided. 
As it was, the friends of Burr considered the re- 
fusal as a declaration of war. Appointments be- 



%, 



IN THE CABINET. 293 

came immediately a part of the macliinery of Re- 
publican administration, as it had been part of 
that of their predecessors, and each was carefully- 
weighed and considered in its reference to party 
quite as much as to public service. 

Already looking forward to the next presiden- 
tial election, Gallatin was anxious for an agree- 
ment upon Jefferson's successor, and even before 
the meeting of the first Congress of his term he 
advised the President on this point, and he also 
proposed the division of every State into election 
districts by a general constitutional provision. 

Jefferson submitted the draft of his annual 
messages to the head of each department, and in- 
vited their comments. Gallatin was minute in 
his observations, and it is interesting to note the 
peculiar precision and caution of his character in 
the nice criticisms of language and style, some- 
times declaratory, sometimes non-committal, but 
always and obviously reasonable, and often pre- 
senting a brief argument for the change proposed. 
In these days of woman's rights it is curious to 
read " Th. J. to Mr. Gallatin. The appointment 
of a woman to office is an innovation for which 
the public is not prepared, nor am I." 

Gallatin suggested a weekly general conference 
of the President and the Secretaries at what is 
now styled a cabinet meeting, and private con- 
ferences of the President with each of the Secre- 
taries once or twice a week on certain days and 



294 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

at fixed hours. The business to come before the 
House was also to be considered, and the policy to 
be pursued determined upon. Unfortunately in 
this case again Jeffersonian theory did not accord 
with Jeffersonian practice. Even erratic Ran- 
dolph complained of the want of system at these 
cabinet meetings, where each was at liberty to do 
and say as he chose ; a severe trial, this, to Galla- 
tin. In 1845 Mr. Gallatin wrote to Edward Coles 
that it was " quite unusual to submit to the cabinet 
the manner in which the land or naval forces au- 
thorized by Congress, and for which appropria- 
tions had been made, should be employed," and 
added that on no occasion, in or out of cabinet, 
was he ever consulted on those subjects prior to 
the year 1812. 

In the difficulty which arose with the Barbary 
powers Mr. Gallatin earnestly urged the payment 
of an annuity to Tripoli, if necessary for peace. 
He considered it a mere matter of calculation 
whether the purchase of peace was not cheaper 
than the expense of a war. This policy was to be 
continued for eight years, at the end of which he 
hoped that a different tone might be assumed. 
In a note on the message of 1802, Gallatin ex- 
pressed the hope to Jefferson that his adminis- 
tration would "afford but few materials for his- 
torians." He would never sacrifice permanent 
prosperity to temporary glitter. 

Mr. Gallatin's counsel was sought, and his opin- 



IN THE CABINET. 295 

ion deferred to, on subjects which did not fall 
directly within the scope of administration. Even 
on questions of fundamental constitutional law his 
judgment was not inferior to that of Madison 
himself. In one notable instance he differed from 
Mr. Lincoln, the Attorney-General, whom he held 
in high esteem as a good lawyer, a fine scholar, 
" a man of great discretion and sound judgment." 
This was in 1803, when the acquisition of East 
Louisiana and West Florida was a cabinet ques- 
tion. Mr. Lincoln considered that there was a 
difference between a power to acquire territory 
for the United States and the power to extend by 
treaty the territory of the United States, and held 
that the first was unconstitutional. Mr. Gallatin 
held that the United States as a nation have an 
inherent right to acquire territory, and that, when 
acquisition is by treaty, the same constituted au- 
thorities in whom the treaty power is vested have 
a constitutional right to sanction the acquisition, 
and that when the territory has been acquired 
Congress has the power either of admitting into 
the Union as a new State or of annexing to a 
State, with the consent of that State, or of mak- 
ing regulations for the government of the territory. 
Mr. Jefferson concurred in this opinion, while at 
the same time he thought it safer not to permit 
the enlargement of the Union except by amend- 
ment of the Constitution. Mr. Gallatin's view was 
practically applied in the cases named, and later 



296 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

in the annexation of Texas, althougli he disap- 
proved of the latter as contrary to good faith and 
the law of nations. He advised Jefferson, also, not 
to lay the treaty by which Louisiana was acquired 
before the House until after its ratification by the 
Senate, taking the ground that until then it was 
not a treaty, and urging that great care should be 
taken to do nothing which might be represented 
as containing any idea of encroachment on the 
rights of the Senate. He personally interested 
himself in the arrangements for taking possession 
of New Orleans, and, considering the expense as 
trifling compared with the object, urged the dis- 
patch of an imposing force of not less than fifteen 
thousand men, which would add to the opinion 
entertained abroad of our power, resources, and 
energy ; five thousand of these to be active troops ; 
ten thousand an enrolled reserve. The acquisition 
of Louisiana was the grand popular feature of the 
foreign policy of the first term of Jefferson's ad- 
ministration. The internal management left much 
to be desired. 

While his general views were exalted, and his 
principles would stand the nicest examination in 
their application, Mr. Jefferson was not fortunate 
in his choice of methods or men. It is not enough 
for an administration to be pure ; it should be 
above suspicion. This his was not. Time has 
not washed out the stain of his intimacy with 
William Duane, the editor of the infamous " Au- 



IN THE CABINET. 297 

rora." Citizen Duane, as he styled himself in the 
first days of the administration, quarrelled with 
Gallatin because he would not apply the official 
guillotine, and thereafter pursued him with un- 
compromising hostility. Of favoritism in appoint- 
ments Mr. Gallatin could not be accused. During 
his twelve years in the Treasury he procured 
places for but two friends ; one was given an ob- 
scure clerkship in the department ; the other, 
John Badollet, was made register in the land 
office at Vincennes, against whom Gallatin said in 
the application for appointment which he reluct- 
antly made, there was but one objection, " that of 
being his personal and college friend." 

The dispositions for the sale of lands in the 
western territory, the extinguishment of titles, and 
the surveys fell under Mr. Gallatin's general su- 
pervision, and were the objects of his particular 
care. So also was the establishment of the au- 
thority of the United States in the Louisiana ter- 
ritory. In the course of these arrangements he 
was brought into contact with Mr. Pierre Ch6teau 
of St. Louis, who controlled the Indian trade of a 
vast territory. The foundation of an intimate ac- 
quaintance was then laid. The influence of this 
remarkable man over the western Indians and 
the extent of his trading operations with them was 
great, and has never since been equalled. About 
this period Mr. John Jacob Astor informed the 
government that he had an opportunity, of which 



298 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

he intended to take advantage, to purchase one 
half of the interest of the Canadian Fur Company, 
which, notwithstanding the treaty of 1794, en- 
grossed the trade by way of Michilimackinac with 
our own Indians. Before that period this lucra- 
tive traffic had been exclusively in British hands, 
and the hostility of the Indian tribes rendered any 
interference in it by Americans dangerous to life 
and property, and their participation since had 
been merely nominal. Jefferson's cabinet received 
the proposal with satisfaction, but, in their strict 
interpretation of the Constitution, could find no 
way of giving any aid to the scheme beyond the 
official promise of protection, which it fell to Mr. 
Gallatin to draft. Mr. Jefferson wrote to Mr. 
Astor a letter to the same effect. Mr. Astor, 
however, was deterred from his enterprise, and, 
under the charter of the American Fur Company 
granted by the State of New York, extended his 
project to the Indians west of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and made of it an immense business, em- 
ploying several vessels at the mouth of the Co- 
lumbia River and a large land party beyond the 
Rocky Mountains. He finally founded the estab- 
lishment of Astoria. This settlement fell into the 
hands of the British during the war of 1812. Mr. 
Astor sought to persuade the American govern- 
ment to permit him to renew the establishment 
at its close, only asking a flag and a lieutenant's 
command, but Mr. Madison would not commit 
himself to the plan. 



IN THE CABINET. 299 

Among Mr. Jefferson's pet schemes was that of 
a substitution of gun-boats for fortifications, and 
for supporting the authority of the laws within 
harbors. The mind of Mr. Jefferson had no doubt 
been favorably disposed to this mode of offensive 
defence by the experience of Lafayette at An- 
napolis, in his southern expedition in the spring 
of 1781, when his entire flotilla, ammunition of 
war, and even the city of Annapolis, were saved 
from destruction by an improvised gun-boat, 
which, armed with mortars and hot shot, drove 
the British blockading vessels out of the harbor. 
Jefferson first suggested the scheme in his annual 
message of 1804, and Gallatin did not interfere ; 
but when, in 1807, the President insisted, in a 
special message, on the building of two hundred 
vessels of this class, Mr. Gallatin objected, be- 
cause of the expense in construction and main- 
tenance, and secondly, of their infallible decay. 
Mr. Jefferson persisted, and Mr, Gallatin's judg- 
ment was vindicated by the result. Two years 
later, of one hundred and seventy-six gun-boats 
constructed, only twenty-four were in actual ser- 
vice. In his letter of criticism, Mr. Gallatin gave 
as his opinion, that " it would be an economical 
measure for every naval nation to burn their navy 
at the end of a war and to build a new one when 
again at war, if it was not that time was neces- 
sary to build ships of war." The principle was 
the same as to gun-boats, and the objection of 
time necessary for building did not exist. 



300 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

This year he also laid before the President a 
memorandum of preparatory measures for defence 
against Great Britain, from whom an attack was 
expected by land and sea, and a second plan for of- 
fensive operations on the northern frontier, which 
is complete in its geographical and topographical 
information, and its estimate of resources in men, 
material, and money. At the same time he urged 
upon Mr. Jefferson to moderate the tone of his 
message, so as not to widen the breach by hurting 
the pride of Great Britain. 

In connection with the land system, Mr. Jeffer- 
son favored, and Mr, Gallatin devised, an exten- 
sive plan of internal improvements. The route of 
the Cumberland road from the Potomac to the 
Ohio was reported to Congress in 1807 ; a coast 
survey was ordered in the same year. The first 
superintendent was Hassler, a Swiss, whom Mr. 
Gallatin brought to the notice of Mr. Jefferson. 
In 1808 a general plan of improvement was sub- 
mitted to the Senate. This included canals paral- 
lel with the sea-coast, making a continuous line of 
inland navigation from the Hudson to Cape Fear ; 
a great turnpike from Maine to Georgia ; the im- 
provement of the Susquehanna, Potomac, James, 
and Santee rivers to serve the slope from the Al- 
leghanies to the Atlantic ; of the Alleghany, Mo- 
nongahela, and Kanawha, to serve the country 
westward to the Mississippi, the head-waters of 
these rivers to be connected by four roads across 



IN THE CABINET, 301 

the Appalachian range ; a canal at the falls of the 
Ohio ; a connection of the Hudson with Lake 
Champlain, and of the same river with Lake 
Ontario at Oswego ; and a canal around Niagara 
Falls. The entire expense he estimated at 
$20,000,000, to be met by an appropriation of 
12,000,000 a year for ten years ; the stock created 
for turnpikes and canals to be a permanent fund 
for repairs and improvements. 

A national university for education in the 
higher sciences was also recommended by Jeffer- 
son in his message of 1806, but Mr. Gallatin had 
little faith in the popularity of this scheme. After 
the convulsion of 1794 in Geneva, Gallatin's old 
college mate, D'Yvernois, conceived the plan of 
transporting the entire University of Geneva to 
the United States, and wrote on the subject to 
Jefferson and Adams ; but his idea was based on 
the supposition that fifteen thousand dollars' in- 
come could be had from the United States in sup- 
port of the institution, which was, of course, at 
at the time impracticable. Jefferson believed that 
these plans of national improvement could be car- 
ried into effect only by an amendment to the Con- 
stitution ; but Mr. Gallatin, as in the bank ques- 
tion, was disturbed by no such scruples, and he 
recommended Mr. Jefferson to strike from his 
message the words ''general welfare," as ques- 
tionable in their nature, and because the proposi- 
tion seemed to acknowledge that the words are 
susceptible of a very dangerous meaning. 



302 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

To a permanent embargo act Mr. Gallatin was 
from the beginning opposed. He recognized the 
mischief of government prohibitions, and thought 
that statesmen might well hesitate before they 
took the hazard of regulating the concerns of in- 
dividuals. The sequel proved the correctness of 
this judgment. But Mr. Jefferson could not bring 
his mind to any more decisive measure, indeed, it 
may justly be said, to any measure whatever. 
Taking advantage of Mr. Madison's election to 
the presidency, he simply withdrew from the tri- 
umvirate, and, passing over the subject in silence 
in his last message, he ignominiously left to Mr. 
Madison and Mr. Gallatin the entire responsibility 
which the threatening state of the foreign rela- 
tions of the country imposed on the Republican 
party. 

The question was now between the enforcement 
of the Embargo Act and war. To take off the em- 
bargo seemed a declaration of weakness. To add 
to it a non-importation clause was the only alter- 
native. In November, 1808, Mr. Gallatin prepared 
for George W. Campbell, chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations of the House, the 
declaration known as Campbell's report, which 
recited, in clear compact form, the injuries done 
to the United States by Great Britain, and closed 
with resolutions to the effect that the United 
States could not submit to the edicts of Great 
Britain and France, and with a recommendation 



IN THE CABINET. 303 

of non-intercourse and for placing of the country 
in a state of defence. After long debate the reso- 
lutions were adopted by large majorities, and the 
policy of resistance was finally determined upon 
— resistance, not war. Thus the United States 
resorted, as the colonies had resorted in 1774, to 
a policy of non-importation. But the condition 
of the States was not that of the colonies. Then 
all the colonies were commercial, and the entire 
population was on the seaboard; the prohibition 
fell with equal weight upon all. Now there were 
large interior communities whom restrictions upon 
commerce would rather benefit than injure. Yet 
neither the Sons of Liberty nor the non-importa- 
tion associations had been able to enforce their 
voluntary agreements either before or after the 
Congress of 1774. If this were to be the mode 
of resistance, stringent measures must be adopted 
to make it effective. Mr. Gallatin accordingly 
called upon Congress for the necessary powers. 
They at once responded with the Enforcement 
Act, which Mr. Gallatin proceeded to apply with 
characteristic administrative vigor, and summoned 
Jefferson to authorize the collectors of revenue to 
call the military force of the United States to sup- 
port them in the exercise of their restrictive au- 
thority. There was to be no evasion under the 
systems which Hamilton devised and Gallatin 
knew so well how to administer. 

His annual report made to Congress on Decem- 



304 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ber 10 had clearly set forth the situation, and, 
without recommending war, had pointed out how 
it might be carried on. Macon wrote of him on 
December 4 to their mutual friend, Joseph H. 
Nicholson, " Gallatin is decidedly for war." After 
his report was sent in the situation became still more 
perplexing. Rumors came of an intention to call 
a convention of the five New England States, with 
New York, if possible, to take ground against the 
embargo. As these indications of dissatisfaction 
became manifest, and the contingency of the em- 
ployment of force at home presented itself, Galla- 
tin made a careful balance of the advantages and 
inconveniences of embargo, non-intercourse, and 
letters of marque. This paper, dated February, 
1809, and entitled, " Notes on the Political Situ- 
ation," no doubt served as a brief for consultation 
with Madison upon his inaugural message, it be- 
ing then understood that Gallatin was to be Sec- 
retary of State. As he states one of the advan- 
tages of letters of marque to be " a greater chance 
of unity at home," this measure he probably pre- 
ferred. The Senate had already, on January 4, 
passed a bill ordering out the entire naval force 
of the country, and on the 10th the House adopted 
the same bill by a vote of 64 to 59. Mr. Gallatin 
opposed this action strenuously. On February 2 
the House voted by a large majority to remove the 
embargo on March 4. Non-intercourse with Great 
Britain and France and trade everywhere else were 



IN THE CABINET. 305 

now the conditions. This significant expression 
of the feeling of Congress no doubt determined Mr. 
Gallatin to suggest letters of marque. Whether 
he pressed them upon Mr. Madison or not is un- 
certain. Meanwhile Mr. Gallatin suffered the 
odium of opposition to the will of Congress, and 
Mr. Madison's power was broken before he took 
his seat. A few Republican senators inaugurated 
an opposition to their chief after the fashion of 
modern days, and Mr. Madison was given to un- 
derstand that Mr. Gallatin would not be confirmed 
if nominated as secretary of state. Mr. Madison 
yielded to this dictation, and from that day for- 
ward was, as he deserved to be, perplexed and 
harassed by a petty oligarchy. Mr. John Quincy 
Adams, in a note on this aifair, says that, " had 
Mr. Gallatin been appointed secretary of state, it 
is highly probable war with Great Britain would 
not have taken place." But it is improbable that 
any step in foreign intercourse was taken without 
Mr. Gallatin's knowledge and approbation. Such 
are the traditions of the triumvirate. 

The first term of Madison's administration was 
not eventful. There was discord in the cabinet. 
In the Senate the " invisibles," as the faction 
which supported Robert Smith, the Secretary of 
State, was aptly termed, rejected Madison's nomi- 
nations and opposed Gallatin's financial policy as 
their interests or whims prompted. Randolph 
said of Madison at this time, that he was '' Presi- 

20 



306 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

dent de jure only." Besides this domestic strife, 
the cabinet was engaged in futile efforts to resist 
the gradually tightening cordon of British aggres- 
sion. Erskine's amateur negotiations, quickly dis- 
avowed by the British government, and the short 
and impertinent mission of Jackson, who suc- 
ceeded him and was dismissed from the United 
States, well served Canning's policy of delay. 
Madison, whose prejudices were as strongly with 
Englishmen and English ways as those of Jeffer- 
son were with the men and manners of France, 
averse to war and withheld also by Gallatin's per- 
sistent objections, negotiated and procrastinated 
until there was little left to argue about. . In De- 
cember, 1809, Macon made an effort to pass a 
stringent navigation act to meet the British Orders 
in Council and the French decrees. The bill 
passed the House but was emasculated in the Sen- 
ate, the Republican cabal voting with the Feder- 
alists to strike out the effective clauses. The act 
interdicting commercial intercourse with Great 
Britain and France expired in May, 1810, and 
was not revived. A new act was passed, which 
was a virtual surrender of every point in dispute. 
Resistance was abandoned, and our ships and sea- 
men were left to the mercy of both belligerents. 

Mr. Gallatin's entire energies were bent upon 
strengthening the Treasury and opposing reckless 
expenditures. His most grievous disappointment, 
however, was in the refusal of Congress to renew 



IN THE CABINET. 307 

the charter of the Bank of the United States. He 
used every possible effort to save this institution, 
which, in the condition of the country, vras indis- 
pensable to a sound currency and the maintenance 
of specie payment. But with the dead weight of 
Mr. Madison's silence, if not indifference, the 
struggle was unequal and the bank fell. The 
course of Mr. Madison can hardly be excused. 
Political history records few examples of a more 
cruel desertion of a cabinet minister by his chief. 
Mr. Gallatin felt it deeply and tendered his resig- 
nation. The administration was going to pieces 
by sheer incapacity. The leaders took alarm and 
the cabinet was reconstructed, Monroe being called 
to the Department of State. But the enemies of 
Mr. Gallatin still clung to his skirts, determined 
to drag him to the dust. Duane attacked him in 
the most dangerous manner. Probably no man in 
America has ever been abused, vilified, maligned 
with such deliberate persistency as was Gallatin 
in the " Aurora " from the beginning of 1811 un- 
til the cabinet crisis, when Mr. Madison was com- 
pelled to choose between Smith and himself. Day 
after day leaders were devoted to personal assault 
upon him and to indirect insinuations of his supe-^ 
riority to Madison, by which the artful editor 
sought to arouse the jealousy of the President. 
The "Atlas at the side of the President," the 
" Great Treasury Law Giver," the " First Lord 
of the Treasury," the " Dagon of the Philistines," 



308 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

were favorite epithets. He was charged by turns 
with betraying cabinet secrets to Randolph, with 
amateur negotiation with Erskine, and with sub- 
serviency to British gold in the support of the 
Bank of the United States. Here is an instance 
of Duane's style : " We can say with perfect con- 
viction that, if Mr. Madison suffer this man to 
lord it over him, Mr. Gallatin will drag him down, 
for no honest man in the country can support an 
administration of which he is a member with con- 
sistency or a pure conscience." It was charged 
upon Gallatin that his friends considered him as 
the real, while Madison was the nominal, Presi- 
dent. More than this, he was accused of embez- 
zlement and enormous speculations in the public 
lands. Gallatin's party pride must have been 
strong indeed to have induced him to stay an hour 
in an administration which granted its favors to 
the author of such assaults upon one of its chosen 
leaders. 

Jefferson wrote to Mr. Wirt in May following, 
that, because of the bank, endeavors were made 
to drive from the administration (of Mr. Madison) 
the ablest man, except the President, who ever 
was in it, and to beat down the President him- 
self because he was unwilling to part with such a 
counsellor. 

Monroe was appointed Secretary of State in 
Smith's place in April, 1811. Other changes fol- 
lowed in the cabinet, but brought little relief to 



IN THE CABINET. 309 

Mr. Gallatin. Financial affairs now occupied his 
entire attention ; on the one hand was a dimin- 
ishing treasury ; on the other an expenditure 
reckless in itself and beyond the demands of the 
administration. Without the sympathy of either 
the Senate or House, Mr. Gallatin's position be° 
came daily more irksome, until at last he aban- 
doned all attempt to control the drift of party 
policy, took the, war party at their word, and sent 
in to the House a war budget. 

Unfortunately for the country, the Republican 
party knew neither how to prepare for war, nor 
how to keep the peace. Mr. Madison had none of 
the qualifications of a war President ; neither ex- 
ecutive ability, decision of character, nor yet that 
more important faculty, knowledge of men. In 
his attachment to Mr. Madison and in loyalty to 
what remained of the once proud triumvirate of 
talent and power, Mr. Gallatin supplied the de- 
ficiencies of his fellows as best he could, until an 
offer of mediation between the United States and 
Great Britain on the part of the Emperor of Rus- 
sia presented an opportunity for honorable with- 
drawal and service in another and perhaps more 
congenial field. In March, 1813, the Russian min- 
ister, in a note to the Secretary of State, tendered 
this offer. Mr. Gallatin had completed his finan- 
cial arrangements for the year, and requested Mr. 
Madison to send him abroad on this mission. 
Unwilling to take the risk of new appointments, 



310 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

the President acceded to this proposal, and gave 
him leave of absence from his post in the Treas- 
ury. Mr. Gallatin did not anticipate a long ab- 
sence, and felt, as he said to his old friend Ba- 
dollet, that he could nowhere be more usefully 
employed than in this negotiation. Certainly he 
could have no regret in leaving a cabinet which 
had so little regard to his own feelings and so lit- 
tle political decency as to confer the appointment 
of adjutant-general in the United States army on 
his malignant assailant, William Duane of the 
"Aurora." 

Mr. Gallatin's mission, followed by the resigna- 
tion of his post in the cabinet, finally dissolved 
the political triumvirate, but not the personal 
friendship of the men. Numerous attempts were 
made to alienate both Jefferson and Madison from 
Gallatin while he held the portfolio of the Treas- 
ury, but one and all they signally and ignomin- 
iously failed. For Mr. Jefferson Mr. Gallatin had 
a regard near akin to reverence. A portrait of 
the venerable sage was always on his study table. 
When about setting out for France in 1816 he 
tendered his services to his old chief and wrote to 
him that ' in every country and in all times he 
should never cease to feel gratitude, respect, and 
attachment for him.' Jefferson fully reciprocated 
this regard. From Monticello he wrote to Galla- 
tin in 1823 : " A visit from you to this place 
would indeed be a day of jubilee, but your age 



IN THE CABINET. 311 

and distance forbid the hope. Be this as it will, 
I shall love you forever, and rejoice in your re- 
joicings and sympathize in your ails. God bless 
and have you ever in his holy keeping." Nor 
does Mr. Gallatin seem to have allowed any feel- 
ing of disappointment or dissatisfaction at Mr. 
Madison's weakness to disturb their kindly rela- 
tions. Their letters close with the reciprocal as- 
surance of affection as well as esteem. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

IN DIPLOMACY. 
THE TREATY OF GHENT. 

On May 9, 1813, the ship Neptune sailed from 
New Castle on the Delaware, having on board 
Albert Gallatin and James A. Bayard, ministers 
of the United States, with their four secretaries, of 
whom were Mr. Gallatin's son James, and George 
M. Dallas, son of his old Pennsylvania friend. 
They were accompanied to sea by a revenue cut- 
ter. Off Cape Henlopen they were overhauled 
by the British frigate on the station, and their 
passport was countersigned by the English cap- 
tain. On June 20 they reached the mouth of the 
river Gotha. Here the vessel lay at quarantine 
for forty-eight hours, during which the gentlemen 
paid a flying visit to Gottenburg. At dusk, on 
the 24th, the Neptune anchored in Copenhagen 
inner roads, the scene of Nelson's attack in 1801. 
Mr. Gallatin's brief memoranda of his voyage 
contain some crisp expressions. He found " des- 
potism and no oppression. Poverty and no dis- 
content. Civility and no servile obsequiousness 
amongst the people. Decency and sobriety." 



IN DIPLOMACY. 313 

St. Petersburg was reached on July 21. Here 
Gallatin and Bayard found John Quincy Adams, 
then minister to Russia. He was one of the three 
commissioners appointed to treat for peace under 
the mediation which the Emperor Alexander had 
offered to the United States. Bayard and Adams 
were Federalists. To the moderate counsels of 
the former Jefferson owed his peaceable elec- 
tion. Gallatin and Adams had the advantage of 
thorough acquaintance with European politics. 
To Gallatin the study of history was a passion. 
He was familiar with the facts and traditions of 
diplomacy. He knew the purpose, the tenor, and 
the result of every treaty made for centuries be- 
tween the great powers ; even their dates were at 
ready command in his wonderful memory. But, 
excepting the few Frenchmen of distinction who in 
the exile which political revulsions imposed upon 
them had crossed the sea, he had no acquaint- 
ance with Europeans of high position, and none 
whatever with the diplomatic personnel of Euro- 
pean courts. In this Adams was more fortunate. 
Educated abroad, while his father was minister to 
the Court of St. James, he was from youth familiar 
with courts and their ways. To be the son of a 
President of the United States was no small mat- 
ter at that day. The conjunction of these two 
men was rare. One of European birth and trained 
to American politics, the other of American birth 
and brought up in the atmosphere of European 



314 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

diplomacy. In their natural characteristics they 
were the opposite of one another. Adams waa 
impetuous, overbearing, impatient of contradict 
tion or opposition. Gallatin was calm, self-con- 
trolled, persistent; not jealous of his opinions, 
but ready to yield or abandon his own methods, if 
those of others promised better success ; never 
blinded by passion or prejudice, but holding the 
end always in view. That end was peace ; " peace 
at all times desirable," as Mr. Gallatin said a few 
days before his departure on his mission, but 
much more so, ' because of the incapacity shown 
in the conduct of the war, its inefficiency when com- 
pared with its expense, and the open hostility to it 
of a large number of the American people.' In 
the face of the disasters which had befallen the 
country Mr. Gallatin must have felt some qualms 
of conscience for his persistent opposition to the 
military and naval establishments. Their reor- 
ganization had place in his desire for peace. He 
said. May 5, 1813 : " Taught by experience, we 
will apply a part of our resources to such naval 
preparations and organization of the public force 
as will, within less than five years, place us in a 
commanding situation." With the particulars of 
the dispute between the two countries he was 
perfectly familiar. His report prepared in 1808 
for Mr. Campbell, chairman of the Committee on 
Foreign Relations, covered the whole ground of 
the American argument. 



IN DIPLOMACY. 315 

At the outset there seemed good ground for 
hope of an early agreement. European politics 
were at a critical point, and England naturally 
wished to husband her resources for a sudden 
emergency. The mediation of Russia Mr. Gal- 
latin considered a salve to the pride of England. 
This reasoning seemed sound enough, but it had 
not taken account of one important element; the 
jealousy of England of any outside interference 
between herself and her ancient dependencies. 
Mr. Gallatin did not hold English diplomacy in 
very high regard. Late in life he said that the 
history of the relations of England and France 
was a story of the triumphs of English arms and 
of French diplomacy ; that England was always 
victorious, but France had as often negotiated her 
out of the fruits of success. True as this remark 
was in general, it cannot be said of the policy of 
England in American affairs. She pushed to the 
utmost her exclusion of France from the Amer- 
ican continent when the states were colonies, and 
now that they were free and independent she 
would listen to no foreign intervention. Neither 
in peace nor war should any third government 
stand between the two nations. This was and 
ever has been the true policy of Great Britain, 
and that it was not lost sight of in the heat of 
war is to the credit of her diplomacy. The offer 
of Russia to mediate was not welcome, and was 
set aside by Lord Castlereagh in a note of dis- 



316 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

couragement. There was no ground for the com- 
missioners to stand upon ; moreover the Emperor 
and Count Nesselrode were absent from St. Pe- 
tersburg, Count Romanzoff being left in charge of 
the foreign relations. The offer of mediation had 
originated with him. His policy was to curb the 
maritime power of England, and to secure in the 
negotiation a modification at least of the offensive 
practice of Great Britain in her assumed police of 
the sea. 

The war was in fact a legacy of the necessarily 
incomplete diplomacy of Washington's adminis- 
tration and the Jay treaty. The determining 
cause was the enforcement of the right of search 
and the impressment of seamen from American 
vessels ; a practice at variance with the rights 
and the law of nations. Monroe, Madison s Sec- 
retary of State, urged the clear and distinct for- 
bearance of this British practice as the one ob- 
ject to be obtained. An article in the treaty 
giving security in that respect was by Gallatin, 
as well as by Monroe, considered a sine qua non 
condition ; while Mr. Bayard viewed an informal 
arrangement as equally efficient and more prac- 
ticable than a solemn article. But there was no 
doubt of Bayard's determination to reach the re- 
sult prescribed in their instructions. 

Mr. Gallatin's first act after setting foot on Eu- 
ropean shores was to write to Baring Brothers & 
Co. at London. This he did from Gottenburg, re- 



IN DIPLOMACY. 317 

questing a passport for the Neptune, which the 
commission proposed to retain at St. Petersburg 
until their return. At the same time he intimated 
that he wished the British government to be in- 
formed of the object of the mission. For the ex- 
penses of the commission the ambassadors had au- 
thority to draw on the Barings. The reply of Mr. 
Alexander Baring must at once have opened Mr. 
Gallatin's eyes to the futility of the errand of the 
commissioners. His words clearly state the Brit- 
ish grounds of objection : " The mediation of Rus- 
sia was offered, not sought, — it was fairly and 
frankly accepted, — I do not see how America 
could with any consistency refuse it ; but to the 
eyes of a European politician it was clear that 
such an interference could produce no practical 
benefit. The only question now seriously at issue 
between us is one purely of a domestic nature in 
each country respectively ; no foreign government 
can fairly judge of it." Pointing out the diffi- 
culty of establishing any distinction between the 
great masses of the seafaring population of Great 
Britain and America, he finds tliat no other coun- 
try can judge of the various positions of great 
delicacy and importance which spring from sucli 
a state of things ; and says : ••' This is not the way 
for Great Britain and America really to settle 
their disputes ; intelligent persons of the two 
countries might devise mutual securities and con- 
cessions which perhaps neither country would of- 



318 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

fer in the presence of a third party. It is a sort 
of family quarrel where foreign interference can 
only do harm and irritate at any time, but more 
especially in the present state of Europe, when 
attempts would be made to make a tool of Amer- 
ica." These, he said he had good reason to 
know, were the sentiments of the British cabinet 
on the question of place of negotiation and for- 
eign mediation. He also informed Mr. Gallatin 
that the mediation of Russia had been refused, 
and that the British government would express 
its desire to treat separately and directly either at 
London or Gottenburg. He warned Mr. Gallatin 
that an opinion prevailed in the British public 
that the United States were engaged to France by 
a secret political connection, which belief, though 
perhaps not shared by the government, would lead 
it to consider the persevering of the American 
commission upon bringing the insulated question 
before the powers of the Continent as a touch- 
stone of their sincerity. He hoped that the Amer- 
ican commissioners would come at once in contact 
with the British ministers, and pointed out the 
hesitation that every minister would feel at giving 
instructions on a matter so delicate as that '' in- 
volving the rights and duties of sovereign and 
subject." He then declared that there was in 
England a strong desire for peace and for end- 
ing a contest in which the " two countries could 
only tease and weaken each other without any 



IN DIPLOMACY. 819 

practical result," and at a time when England de- 
sired to carry her resources into the " more impor- 
tant j&eld of European contest." He then gave 
Castlereagh's assurance, that the cartel-ship, the 
Neptune, should be respected, and expressed his 
own personal hope that he should ere long be 
gratified by seeing it bring, with the commission- 
ers, the hope of peace to the shores of England. 

Meanwhile Mr. Gallatin was engaged in ex- 
plaining the American case to Romanzoff by con- 
versation and by a written statement of the facts 
in the form of an unofficial note to the Emperor. 
On August 10 word was received from the Em- 
peror Alexander authorizing the renewal of the 
offer of mediation ; and shortly after a letter from 
General Moreau, written to Mr. Gallatin from the 
imperial headquarters at Hrushova, assured him 
of his sympathy and assistance. His relations 
with Gallatin were of long standing and of an in- 
timate nature. Moreau, after a long residence in 
America, to which he was warmly attached, had 
lately crossed the ocean and tendered his able 
sword to the coalition against Bonaparte. He in- 
formed Gallatin that one of the British members 
had said to him in Germany that England would 
not treat of her maritime rights under any media- 
tion. He feared that American vanity would 
hardly consent to treat directly with Great Brit- 
ain, and foresaw that the political adversaries of 
Madison and Gallatin would blame the precipi- 



320 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

tation of the United States government in send- 
ing over the envoys before the adhesion of Eng- 
land to the proposed arbitration was secured. He 
assured Gallatin of the interest of the Emperor 
Alexander in the Americans. 

On August 24 Count Romanzoff read to the 
envoys his dispatch to Count Lieven, the Russian 
minister at London, renewing the offer of media- 
tion. The commissioners considering their au- 
thority as limited to treating under the mediation 
of Russia, Mr. Gallatin wrote to Monroe, inclos- 
ing a copy of Baring's letter, which he looked 
upon as an informal communication of the views 
of the British government, and asked for contin- 
gent powers and instructions. These they could 
not expect to receive before February. Gallatin 
replied to Mr. Baring that no information of the 
refusal of Great Britain to the mediation had been 
received, but, even if it had, the commission was 
not authorized to negotiate in any other manner. 
They were, however, competent to treat of com- 
merce without mediation. He declined to discuss 
the objection of Great Britain to the mediation of 
Russia, confining himself to an expression of ig- 
norance in America of any such feeling on the 
part of the British ministry, and of the confidence 
placed in the personal character of the Emperor, 
which was considered a sufiicient pledge of impar- 
tiality ; while the selection of a sovereign at war 
with France was clear evidence that America 



IN DIPLOMACr. 321 

neither had nor wished to have any poHtical con- 
nection with that power. That he himself be- 
lieved an arrangement to be practicable, he said 
to Mr. Baring, was evident from the fact that he 
had given up his political existence, and separated 
himself from his family. His opinion was, that 
while neither nation would be induced to abandon 
its rights or pretensions in the matter of impress- 
ment, an arrangement might be made by way of 
experiment which would reserve to both their re- 
spective abstract rights, real or assumed. 

To Moreau he wrote stating his hope that, not- 
withstanding the first objections of Great Britain, 
the mediation of the Emperor would be accepted, 
and he asked the general for his personal interpo- 
sition to this end. France and England he held 
to be equally at fault in the great European con- 
test ; the one usurping and oppressing the land, 
the other dominating and tyrannizing the sea. 
They alone, said he, have gained, if not happiness, 
at least power. Russia, he was firmly persuaded, 
was the only power at heart friendly to America. 
History has shown the sagacity of this judgment. 
This letter was never answered. Moreau was at 
death's door. 

Early in October Mr. Dallas was sent to Lon- 
don to open relations with the British ministry. 
His presence there would save two months at least 
in each correspondence which involved communi- 
cation between Washington, London, and St. Pe- 

21 



322 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

tersburg. Count Romanzoff gave the Decessary 
letter of introduction to Count Lieven. Galla- 
tin's instructions to the young secretary were ex- 
plicit as to the caution he should exercise in a 
country where he could consider himself as only 
on sufferance. Hardly were these preliminaries 
concluded, and Dallas had not started on his 
journey, when Mr. Gallatin received word from 
America that the Senate had refused to confirm 
him in his position as commissioner.^ 

Stripped of his official character, he now felt 
himself at liberty to follow his own inclination. 
His first impulse was to go to London, where he 
was sure that Baring's friendship would open to 
him a means of usefulness in the matter on which 
he was engaged. The death of Moreau cut off 
the medium of approach to the Emperor. This 
event was of no consequence, however, in the ne- 
gotiation, as the Emperor had been positively in- 
formed in July that England would not counte- 
nance even the appearance of foreign intervention 
in her dispute with America. But as yet no of- 
ficial information of his rejection had been re- 
ceived by Mr. Gallatin, nor did any reach him 
until March. Without it he could not well leave 
St. Petersburg. Meanwhile a diplomatic imbroglio, 
caused by the failure of the Emperor to inform 

^ Mr. Gallatin had not resigned his position of Secretary of the 
Treasury. The Senate refused to sanction the cumulative ap- 
pointment. 



IN DIPLOMACY. 323 

Romanzoff of Castlereagh's second refusal to ac- 
cept the offer of mediation, embarrassed the com- 
mission all winter. Nor yet were they aware that 
the British minister, driven to the wall by the sec- 
ond offer of the Emperor, had made proposals to 
Monroe to treat directly with the^ United States 
government. The British note with this offer was 
written on November 4. Mr. Gallatin was ap- 
prised of it by Mr. Dallas in January, 1814. Mr. 
Baring urged him, if he should return to America 
during the winter, to take his way through Eng- 
land, as good effects might result from even a 
passing visit. Gallatin was then, as he expressed 
it, * chained for the winter to St. Petersburg,' nor 
had he any way of reaching home, except by a 
cartel from a British port. 

No word coming from the Emperor, the envoys 
concluded to withdraw from St. Petersburg. Be- 
fore leaving, Mr. Gallatin addressed a letter of 
thanks to Count Romanzoff, and requested him to 
communicate any information he might receive 
from the Emperor. It was supposed that the offer 
of England to treat directly with America might 
be inclosed in Castlereagh's letter of refusal to ac- 
cept Russian mediation. On January 25, 1814, 
Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bayard left St. Petersburg 
and travelled by land to Amsterdam, which they 
reached after a tedious journey on March 4. The 
captain of the Neptune was ordered to bring his 
vessel to a port of Holland. At Amsterdam, 



324 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

where the envoys remained four weeks, they 
learned that Mr. Madison had at once accepted 
Castlereagh's offer and appointed a new commis- 
sion, consisting of Messrs. Adams, Bayard, Henry 
Clay, and Jonathan Russell. Mr. Gallatin was 
not included, as he was supposed to be on his way 
home to resume his post in the Treasury Depart- 
ment, the duties of which had been performed in 
his absence by Mr. Jones, the Secretary of the 
Navy. When correct information did reach Mr. 
Madison, on February 8, he immediately added 
Mr. Gallatin to the commission, and appointed 
Mr. G. W. Campbell to be Secretary of the Treas- 
ury. Thus it happened that Mr. Gallatin, whom 
Mr. Madison intended for the head of the commis- 
sion, was the last named of those who conducted 
the negotiations. 

On April 1, 1814, Mr. Gallatin concluded to 
pass through England on his return, and leaving 
orders for the Neptune on its arrival to proceed 
to Falmouth, he took the packet to Harwich, 
whither he requested Mr. Baring to send him the 
requisite passports to enable him to reach London 
with his suite without delay. 

In company with Mr. Bayard, Mr. Gallatin 
reached the English capital on April 9, 1814. 
There they heard some days later of the arrival of 
Messrs. Clay and Russell at Gottenburg. The 
situation of Great Britain had greatly changed. 
Intoxicated with the success of their arms and the 



IN DIPLOMACY. 325 

abdication of Napoleon, the English people were 
quite ready to undertake the punishment of the 
United States, while the release of a large body of 
trained troops in France, Italy, Holland, and Por- 
tugal enabled the ministry immediately to throw 
a large force into Canada for the summer campaign. 
In the British cabinet a belief was said to be en- 
tertained that a continuance of the war would bring 
about a separation of the American Union, and 
perhaps a return of New England to the mother 
country. In this emergency Gallatin availed him- 
self of the opportunity which presented itself of 
addressing Lafayette in sending to that officer the 
patents for the Louisiana land granted to him by 
the American government, and urged the use of his 
influence to promote an accommodation between 
England and the United States. 

To Clay he wrote on April 22, proposing that 
the place of negotiation be changed from " that 
corner " Gottenburg, either to London, or some 
neutral place more accessible to the friendly inter- 
ference of those among the European powers upon 
which they must greatly rely. The Emperor Alex- 
ander was expected in London, and Castlereagh, 
who had recently returned from France where he 
had been in direct intercourse with him, was under- 
stood to be of all the cabinet the best disposed to 
the United States. From Clay Gallatin heard in 
reply that the British charg^ d'affaires at Stock- 
holm had already asked the sanction of the Swed- 



326 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ish government to the negotiation at Gottenburg. 
While Clay was unwilling to go to London he gave 
his consent to carry on the negotiations in Holland, 
if the arrangement could be made in such a man- 
ner as to avoid any ill feeling at the Swedish court 
by the change from Gottenburg. In May Gallatin 
and Bayard asked of Monroe authority for the com> 
missioners to remove the negotiation to any place 
which their judgment should prefer. In May, 
also, the British government was officially notified 
by the American commissioners of their appoint- 
ment. Lord Bathurst answered with an assurance 
that commissioners would be forthwith appointed 
for Great Britain, and with a proposal of Ghent 
as the place for negotiation. This was at once ac- 
ceded to. 

Meanwhile Mr. Crawford, the United States 
minister at Paris, was endeavoring, at the instance 
of Mr. Gallatin, to secure the friendly interposition 
of the Emperor Alexander, not as a mediator, but 
as a common friend and in the interest of peace to 
the civilized world. Crawford was unable to ob- 
tain an audience of the Emperor, or even an inter- 
view with Count Nesselrode, but Lafayette took 
up the cause with his hearty zeal for everything 
that concerned the United States, and, in a long 
interview with the Emperor at the house of Ma- 
dame de Stael, submitted to him the view taken 
by the United States of the controversy, and ob- 
tained from him his promise to exert his personal 



IN DIPLOMACY. 327 

influence with the British goverment on his arrival 
at London. Baron von Humboldt, the Prussian 
minister at Paris, who had been influenced by 
British misrepresentation, was also won over by 
Lafayette, and now tendered his services to Mr. 
Gallatin in any way in which he might be made 
useful. Lafayette's letter was brought by Hum- 
boldt in person. Gallatin and Humboldt had met 
in 1804, when the great traveller passed through 
Washington on his return from Peru and Mexico. 

The Treaty of Paris having been signed. Lord 
Castlereagh reached London early in June, and 
the Emperor arrived a few days later. Mr. Galla- 
tin had an audience of the Emperor on June 17, 
and on the 19th submitted an official statement 
of the American case and an appeal for the inter- 
position of his imperial majesty, " the liberator 
and pacifier of Europe." From the interview Mr. 
Gallatin learned that the Emperor had made three 
attempts in the interest of peace, but that he had 
no hope that his representations had been of any 
service. England would not admit a third party 
to interfere, and he thought that, with respect to 
the conditions of peace, the difficulty would be 
with England and not with America. 

On June 13 Gallatin warned Monroe of the 
preparations England was making which would en- 
able her to land fifteen to twenty thousand men 
on the Atlantic coast ; that the capture of Wash- 
ington and New York would most gratify the 



828 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

British people, and that no help need be expected 
from the countries of Europe, all which were pro- 
foundly desirous of peace. 

The ministry informing Mr. Gallatin that the 
British commissioners would start for Ghent on 
July 1, he improved the interval by a visit to Paris. 
He left London, where he had passed nearly three 
months in the uncertain preliminaries of negotia- 
tion, and after a few days in the French capital 
reached Ghent on July 6. The British commis- 
sioners only appeared on August 6. They were 
Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William 
Adams, all second-rate men, but for this reason 
suited to the part they had to play. After the 
overturn of Napoleon the British cabinet had no 
desire for peace, or at least not until they had 
secured by war some material advantages in the 
United States, which a treaty would confirm. The 
business of their representatives at Ghent was to 
make exorbitant demands of the Americans and 
delay negotiations pending the military operations 
in progress. 

In June Gallatin was satisfied of the general 
hostile spirit of Great Britain and of its wish to 
inflict serious injury on the United States. He 
notified Monroe of his opinion and warned him 
that the most favorable terms to be expected were 
the status ante helium., and not certainly that, un- 
less the American people were united and the 
country able to stand the shock of the campaign. 



IN DIPLOMACY. 329 

Mr. Madison's administration had already humbled 
itself to an abandonment, or at least to an adjourn- 
ment, of the principle to establish which they had 
resorted to arms. But in the first stages of the 
negotiation it was clear that the British cabinet 
had more serious and dangerous objects in view, 
and looked beyond aggression and temporary in- 
jury to permanent objects. At the first meeting 
on August 8, the British commissioners demanded, 
as a preliminary to any negotiation, that the United 
States should set apart to the Indian tribes the 
entire territory of the Northwest to be held by 
them forever in sovereignty under the guaranty of 
Great Britain. The absurdity of such a demand 
is sufiicient evidence that it was never seriously 
entertained. There could have been no idea that 
the military power of Great Britain was able to 
enforce, or that the United States would abjectly 
submit to, such a mutilation of its territory and 
such a limitation of its expansion. Behind this 
cover Mr. Gallatin instinctively detected the real 
design of the cabinet to be the conquest of New 
Orleans and the mouths of the Mississippi. If to 
the territory thus acquired that of Florida should 
be added by cession from Spain, which could hardly 
refuse any compensation asked of her by Great 
Britain in return for the liberation of the Peninsula, 
a second British dominion would be set up on the 
American continent. These views Gallatin com- 
municated to Monroe in a private dispatch of Au- 



830 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

gust 20, 1814, by the hands of Mr. Dallas. To 
the sine qua non of the British commissioners no 
answer was made by the Americans. The nego- 
tiation was abruptly suspended, and only by infor- 
mal conversation was Mr. Goulburn given to un- 
derstand that reference had been had to America 
for instructions. Mr. Gallatin was of opinion that 
the negotiations were at an end, and in his de- 
spair of peace took consolation in the belief that 
the insolence of the demand would unite America 
from Maine to Georgia in defence of her rights, 
of her territory, and indeed of her independence. 
The American commissioners made no secret of 
their belief that their mission was closed. Two 
of the secretaries started from Ghent on a con- 
tinental tour, and notice was given to the land- 
lord of the house where the commissioners resided 
of their intention to quit it on October 1. On 
August 2, while matters were still at this dead- 
lock, Lord Castlereagh passed through Ghent on 
his way to the Congress at Vienna. Goulburn 
was ordered to change his tone and Lord Liver- 
pool was advised to moderate his demands ; to use 
Castlereagh's words, to " a letting down of the 
question." Lord Liverpool replied on September 
2, that he had already given Goulburn to under- 
stand that the commission had taken a very er- 
roneous view of British policy. In this communi- 
cation he betrays the hope, which the cabinet 
entertained, of American dissensions, by his ex- 



IN DIPLOMACY, 381 

pression of the opinion that if the negotiation had 
broken off on the notes ah'eady presented by the 
British commission, or the answer that the Ameri- 
cans were disposed to make, the war would have 
become popular in America. 

Lord Bathurst reopened the negotiations, but 
his modification was of tone rather than of matter. 
The surrender of the control of the Lakes to Great 
Britain, and of the Northwest Territory to the In- 
dians, was still adhered to. The reply of the 
American commissioners was drawn chiefly by 
Mr. Gallatin. It absolutely rejected the proposals 
respecting the boundary and the military flag on 
the Lakes, and refused even to refer them to the 
American government, but ofi:ered to pursue the 
negotiation on the other points. To Monroe Mr. 
Gallatin explained his reason for assenting to dis- 
cuss the Indian article, and therein his colleagues 
concurred with him, to be ; that they had little hope 
of peace, but thought it desirable, if there were 
to be a breach, that it should be on other grounds 
than that of Indian pacification. The reply of the 
commission on this point, also drafted by Mr. Gal- 
latin, was sent in on September 26. It merely 
guarantied the Indians in all their old rights, priv- 
ileges, and possessions. 

The destruction of the public buildings at 
Washington by the British troops, known in Lon- 
don on October 1, caused a great sensation in Eng- 
land. As Gallatin said in a letter to Madame de 



332 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Stael, it was " an act of vandalism to which no 
parallel could be found in the twenty years of Eu- 
ropean war from the frontiers of Russia to Paris, 
and from those of Denmark to Naples." " Was 
it (he asked), because, with the exception of a few 
cathedrals, England had no public buildings com- 
parable to them, or was it to console the London 
mob for their disappointment, that Paris was 
neither pillaged nor burned." It can hardly be 
doubted that the flames which consumed the 
American capital lighted the way to peace. The 
atrocity of war was again brought vividly to the 
view of nations whose sole yearning was for peace. 
Far from discouraging the American commission- 
ers, it fortified their determination. They knew 
that it would unite the people of the States as 
one man. It in no way disturbed Gallatin's confi- 
dence either in the present or future of his adopted 
country. To those who asked his opinion of the 
securities of the United States, he said : " If I 
have not wholly misunderstood America, its re- 
sources and its political morality, I am not wrong 
in the belief that its public funds are more secure 
than those of all European powers." 

In spite of the protests of Mr. Goulburn, who 
felt the ground on which he stood daily less stable, 
and in his letters to his chief was unsparing in his 
denunciations, Lord Liverpool accepted the pro- 
posed settlement of the Indian question. Nothing 
remained but to incorporate in a treaty form the 



I 



IN DIPLOMACY. 333 

points agreed upon. Lord Bathurst, who seems 
throughout the negotiation to have forgotten the 
old adage, that " fine words butter no parsnips,'* 
and with true British blindness never to have ap- 
preciated how thoroughly he was overmatched by 
Mr, Gallatin, submitted a preliminary notification 
that the British terms would be based on the prin- 
ciple of uti possidetis which involved a rectifica- 
tion of the boundaries on the Canadian frontier. 
To this the Americans returned a peremptory re- 
fusal. They would not go one step farther except 
on the basis of tlie status quo ante helium. Lord 
Liverpool considered this as conclusive. A vigo- 
rous prosecution of the war was resolved upon by 
the cabinet. Only for reasons of expediency was 
a show of negotiation still kept up. But when the 
cabinet took a survey of the general field they felt 
little complacency in the prospect of a struggle 
which sooner or later must interest the maritime 
powers. France, compelled by the peace of Vienna 
to withdraw from what even Lafayette considered 
as her natural frontier, was restive, and there was 
a large party in Russia who would gladly see the 
Emperor take up the American cause. Moreover 
the Chancellor of the Exchequer saw before him 
an inevitable addition of ten millions of pounds 
sterling to his budget, the only avowable rea- 
son for which was the rectification of the Cana- 
dian frontier. In their distress the cabinet pro- 
posed to Wellington to go to the United States 



334 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

with the olive-branch and the sword, to negotiate 
or conquer a peace. The desire of the cabinet 
to bring the war to an honorable conclusion was 
avowed. But Wellington, before accepting this 
proposal, gave Lord Liverpool a very frank opin- 
ion of the mistake made in exacting territorial 
concessions, since the British held no territory of 
the United States in other than temporary posses- 
sion, and had no right to make any such demand. 
Lord Liverpool was not tenacious. He was never, 
he wrote Lord Bathurst, much inclined to give 
way to the Americans, but the cabinet felt itself 
compelled to withdraw from its extreme ground. 
He accepted his defeat and acknowledged it. 

The Americans meanwhile arranged a draft of a 
treaty. The articles on impressment and other 
maritime rights, absolutely rejected by the British, 
were set aside. There only remained the question 
of the boundaries, the fisheries, and the navigation 
of the Mississippi. Here Mr. Gallatin had as much 
difficulty in maintaining harmony between Adams 
and Clay as in obtaining a peace from Liverpool 
and Bathurst. Adams was determined to save the 
fisheries ; Clay would not hear of opening the Mis- 
sissippi to British vessels. A compromise was ef- 
fected by which it was agreed that no allusion 
should be made to either subject. Mr. Gallatin 
terminated the dispute by adding a declaration that 
the commissioners were willing to sign a treaty 
applying the principle of the status quo ante helium 



IN DIPLOMACY, 335 

to all the subjects of difference. This was in strict 
conformity with the instructions from the home 
government. On November 10 the American draft 
was sent in. On the 25th the British replied with 
a counter-draft which made no allusion to the fish- 
eries, but stipulated for the free navigation of the 
Mississippi. The Americans replied that they 
would give up the navigation of the river for a 
surrender of the fisheries. This proposal was at 
once refused by the British. The matter was set- 
tled by an offer of the Americans to negotiate un- 
der a distinct reservation of all American rights. 
All stipulations on either subject were in the end 
omitted, the British government on December 22 
withdrawing the article referring to these points. 
In the course of the negotiation Mr. Gallatin pro- 
posed that in case of a future war both nations 
should engage never to employ the savages as aux- 
iliaries, but this article does not appear. To the 
credit of civilization, however, the last article con- 
tained a mutual engagement to put an end to the 
trade in slaves.^ On Christmas day the treaty 
was signed. Mr. Henry Adams ^ justly says, 
" Far more than contemporaries ever supposed, or 
than is now imagined, the Treaty of Ghent was 
the special work and the peculiar triumph of Mr. 

1 An agreement entered into in perfect faith, but which the 
jealousy of the exercise of search in any form rendered nugatory 
for half a century. 

2 Life of Albert Gallatin, p. 546. 



336 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Gallatin." His own correspondence shows how 
admirably he was constituted for the nice work of 
diplomatic negotiation. In the self-poise which he 
maintained in the most critical situations, the un- 
erring sagacity with which he penetrated the pur- 
poses of his adversaries, the address with which he 
soothed the passions and guided the judgments of 
his colleagues, it is impossible to find a single fault. 
If he had a fault, says his biographer, it was that 
of using the razor when he would have done bet- 
ter with the axe. But the axe is not a diplomatic 
weapon. The simulation of temper may serve an 
occasional purpose, but temper itself is a mistake, 
and to Mr. Gallatin's credit be it said, it was a 
mistake never committed by him in the course 
of this long and sometimes painful negotiation. 
Looking back upon its shifting scenes, it is clear 
that even the pertinacity of Adams and irascibility 
of Clay served to advance the purpose of the mis- 
sion. From the first to the last Mr. Gallatin had 
his own way, not because it was his own way, but 
because it was the best way and was so recognized 
by the majority of the commission at every turn 
of difference. Fortunately for the interests of 
peace the battle of New Orleans had not yet been 
fought. There seems a justice in this final act of 
the war. The British attack upon the Chesapeake ^ 
was committed before war had been declared. 

1 The frigate Chesapeake was captured by the British man-of* 
war Leopard in June, 1807. 



IN DIPLOMACY. 337 

The battle of New Orleans was fought a fortnight 
after the Treaty of Ghent was signed. The burn- 
ing of Washington was avenged by the most 
complete defeat which the British had ever en- 
countered in their long career of military prowess. 

By his political life Mr. Gallatin acquired an 
American reputation ; by his management of the 
finances of the United States he placed himself 
among the first political economists of the day ; 
but his masterly conduct of the Treaty of Ghent 
showed him the equal of the best of European 
statesmen on their own peculiar ground of diplo- 
macy. No one of American birth has ever equalled 
him in this field. Europeans recognized his pre- 
eminent genius. Sismondi praised him in a pub- 
lic discourse. Humboldt addressed him as his 
illustrious friend. Madame de Stael expressed to 
him her admiration for his mind and character. 
Alexander Baring gave him more than admira- 
tion, his friendship. 

Upon the separation of the commissioners, Mr. 
Gallatin paid a flying visit to Geneva. His fame, 
or "glory," to use the words of Humboldt, pre- 
ceded him. Of his old intimates, Serre was under 
the sod in a West Indian island ; Badollet was 
leading a quiet life at Vincennes in the Indiana 
Territory, where Gallatin had obtained for him 
an appointment in the land office; Dumont was 
in England. Of Gallatin's family few remained. 
But he received the honors due to him as a Gene- 



338 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

van who had shed a lustre on his native city. On 
his way to England, where he had made an ap- 
pointment with his colleagues to attempt a com- 
mercial treaty with Great Britain, he stopped at 
Paris. Here he saw Napoleon, returned from 
Elba, his star in full blaze before its final ex- 
tinction. Here he heard in April (1815) of his 
appointment by Madison as minister to France. 
His colleagues also had been honored by similar 
advancements. Adams was transferred from Rus- 
sia to England. Bayard was named minister to 
Russia, but illness prevented his taking possession 
of his post. In April, Mr. Gallatin and Mr. 
Clay opened negotiations with Lord Castlereagh 
in London, where they were quickly joined by 
Adams. Lord Castlereagh bore no malice against 
Mr. Gallatin for the treaty. On the contrary, he 
wrote of it to Lord Liverpool as " a most auspi- 
cious and seasonable event, and wished him joy at 
" being released from the millstone of an American 
war." With Lord Castlereagh Mr. Gallatin ar- 
ranged in the course of the summer a convention 
regulating commercial intercourse between the 
United States and Great Britain, the only truly 
valuable part of which was that which abolished 
all discriminating duties. Mr. Gallatin consid- 
ered this concession as an evidence of friendly dis' 
position, and rightly judged that British antipathy 
and prejudice were modified, and that in the 
future friendly relations would be preserved and a 



IN DIPLOMACY. 339 

rupture avoided. Beyond this, there was little 
gained. The old irritating questions of impress- 
ment and blockade and the exclusion of the 
United States from the West Indies trade re- 
mained. 

In July Mr. Gallatin parted from Mr. Baring 
and his London friends on his homeward jour- 
ney. From New York, on September 4, he wrote 
Madison, thanking him for the appointment of 
minister to France as an " evidence of undimin- 
ished attachment and of public satisfaction for his 
services ;" but he still held his acceptance in abey- 
ance. To Jefferson, two days later, he had also 
the satisfaction to say with justice, that the char- 
acter of the United States stood as " high as ever 
it did on the European continents, and higher 
than ever it did in Great Britain ;" and that the 
United States was considered " as the nation de- 
signed to check the naval despotism of England." 
To Jefferson he naturally spoke of that France 
from which they had drawn some of their inspira- 
tions and their doctrines. 

He thus describes the condition of the people : 

"The revolution (the political change of 1789) has 
not, however, been altogether useless. There is a vis- 
ible improvement in the agriculture of the country and 
the situation of the peasantry. The new generation be- 
longing to that class, freed from the petty despotism 
of nobles and priests, and made more easy in their cir- 
cumstances by the abolition of tithes, and the equaliza- 



840 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

tion of taxes, have acquired aa independent spirit, and 
are far superior to their fathers in intellect and informa- 
tion ; they are not republicans and are still too much 
dazzled by military glory ; but I think that no monarch 
or ex-nobles can hereafter oppress them long with im- 
punity." 

And again, " Exhausted, degraded, and oppressed 
as France now is, I do not despair of her ultimate 
success in establishing her independence and a 
free form of government." But it was not till 
half a century later that Gambetta, the Mirabeau 
of the Republic, led France to the full possession 
of her material forces, and reestablished in their 
original vigor the principles of 1789. That Gal- 
latin was not blinded by democratic prejudices 
appears in the letter he wrote to Lafayette after 
Napoleon's abdication, in which he said : " My 
attachment to the form of government imder 
which I was born and have ever lived never made 
me desirous that it should, by way of experiment, 
be applied to countries which might be better fit- 
ted for a limited monarchy." 

MINISTER TO FRANCE. 
Strange as it appears, there is no doubt that 
Mr. Gallatin was at this time heartily weary of 
political life, and seriously contemplated a perma- 
nent retirement to the banks of the Monongahela. 
He naturally enough declined a nomination to 
Congress, which was tendered him by the Phila- 



IN DIPLOMACY. 341 

delphia district. His tastes were not for the vio- 
lence and turbulence of the popular house, 

Madison left him full time to decide whether he 
could arrange his private affairs so as to accept 
the mission to Paris. In November he positively 
declined. He considered the compensation as in- 
competent to the support of a minister in the 
style in which he was expected to live. His pri- 
vate income was at this time about twenty-five 
hundred dollars a year. Monroe pressed him earn- 
estly not to quit the public service, but the year 
closed and Mr. Gallatin had not made up his 
mind. In the situation of France, which he con- 
sidered " would under her present dynasty be for 
some years a vassal of her great rival," he did not 
consider the mission important, and his private 
fortune was limited to a narrow competence. " I 
do not wish," he wrote to Monroe, " to accumulate 
any property. I will not do my family the in- 
jury of impairing the little I have. My health is 
frail ; they may soon lose me, and I will not leave 
them dependent on the bounty of others." But 
being again earnestly pressed, he on January 2, 
1816, accepted the appointment. To Jefferson he 
wrote that he would not conceal ' that he did not 
feel yet old enough nor had philosophy enough to 
go into retirement and abstract himself wholly 
from public affairs.' 

In April, Madison notified Mr. Gallatin of Dal- 
las's probable retirement from the Treasury, and 



842 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

offered him the post if he cared to return to it. 
He was perfectly aware of his supreme fitness for 
the direction of the Treasury, and he declined with 
reluctance, because he was disturbed by the sus- 
pension of specie payments. Remembering Madi- 
son's weakness in 1812 on the subject of the 
renewal of the bank charter, which Gallatin con- 
sidered necessary in the situation of the finances, 
he could hardly have felt a desire to return to 
the cabinet in that or indeed in any other capac- 
ity. He was perfectly conscious that as leader 
of the House of Representatives, as Secretary of 
the Treasury, and as negotiator of the Ghent 
treaty, he had brought into the triumvirate all its 
practical statesmanship. His short career abroad 
had opened to him a new source of intellectual 
pleasure. He had earned a right to some hours of 
ease. Diplomacy at that period, when communi- 
cation was uncertain and difficult, was perforce 
less restricted than in these latter days, when am- 
bassadors are little more than foreign clerks of the 
State Department without even the freedom of a 
chief of bureau. Gallatin felt entirely at home, and 
was happy in this peculiar sphere. There was no 
time in his life when he would not have gladly 
surrendered all political power for the enjoyment 
of intellectual ease, the pursuit of science, and the 
atmosphere of society of the higher order of culture 
in whatever field. And Paris was then, as it is 
still, the centre of intellectual and social civilization. 



IN DIPLOMACY. 343 

Jefferson rejoiced in Gallatin's appointment to 
France, and rightly judged that he would be of 
great service there. Of Louis XVIII., however, 
Jefferson had a poor opinion. He thought him ' a 
fool and a bigot, but, bating a little duplicity, 
honest and meaning well.' Jefferson could give 
Gallatin no letters. He had 'no acquaintances 
left in France ; some were guillotined, some fled, 
some died, some are exiled, and he knew of nobody 
left but Lafayette.' With Destutt de Tracy, an 
intimate friend of Lafayette, Jefferson was in cor- 
respondence. Indeed, he was engaged on the 
translation of Tracy's work on political economy, 
the best, in Jefferson's opinion, that had ever ap- 
peared.i 

Gallatin reached Paris with his family on July 
9, 1816, and had an interview with the Duke of 
Richelieu, the minister of Louis XVIII. , two days 
later. The conversation turned upon the sympa- 
thy for Bonaparte in the United States, which 
Richelieu could not understand ; but Gallatin ex- 
plained that it was not extended to him as the 
despot of France, but as the most formidable 
enemy of England. Richelieu warned him of the 
prejudices which might be aroused against the 
reigning family ' by ex-kings and other emigrants 
of the same description ' who had lately removed 
to the United States. This was an allusion to Je- 

1 A translation of this work, Economie Politique, was published 
under Jefferson's supervision in 1818. 



844 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

rome, who had fled from the throne of Westphalia 
to the banks of the Delaware. The King gave Gal- 
latin an audience on the 11th, when he presented 
his credentials. His reception both by his majesty 
and the princes was, he wrote to Monroe, '^ what 
is called gracious," Louis the Eighteenth was a 
Bourbon to the ends of his fingers. He had the 
bonhommie dashed with malice which characterized 
the race. None could better appreciate than he 
the vein of good-natured satire, the acquired tone 
of French society, which was to Mr. Gallatin a 
natural gift. Mr. Gallatin was not only kindly, 
but familiarly received at court ; and at the petits 
soupers, which were the delight of the epicurean 
King, his majesty on more than one occasion 
shelled the crawfish for the youthful daughter of 
the republican ambassador. An anecdote is pre- 
served of the King's courteous malice. To a com- 
pliment paid Mr. Gallatin on his French, the King 
added, " but I think my English is better than 
yours." 

Gallatin's first negotiations were to obtain in- 
demnity for the captures under the Berlin and 
Milan decrees ; but although the Duke of Riche- 
lieu never for a moment hinted that the govern- 
ment of the Restoration was not responsible for 
the acts of Napoleon, yet he stated that the mass 
of injuries for which compensation was demanded 
by other governments was so great that indemnity 
must be limited to the most flagrant cases. They 



IN DIPLOMACY. 345 

would pay for vessels burnt at sea, but would go 
no farther. In spite of Mr. Gallatin's persistency 
no advance was made in the negotiation. A mi- 
nor matter gave him some annoyance. On July 4, 
1816, at a public dinner, the postmaster at Balti- 
more proposed a toast which, b}'^ its disrespect, 
gave umbrage to the King. Hyde de Neuville, 
the French minister to the United States, de- 
manded the dismissal of the offender. If our in- 
stitutions and habits as well as public opinion had 
not forbidden compliance with this request, the 
dictatorial tone of De Neuville was sufficient bar. 
Richelieu could not be made to understand the 
reason for the refusal, and while disclaiming any 
idea of using force, said that the government 
would show its dissatisfaction in its own way. 
This seemed to intimate an indefinite postpone- 
ment of a consideration of American demands, 
and would have rendered Mr. Gallatin's further 
residence useless as well as unpleasant ; but 
French dignity got the better of what Gallatin 
termed, " the sickly sentimentality which existed 
on the subject of personal abuse of the King," and 
the insignificant incident was not allowed to in- 
terfere with friendly intercourse. 

In 1817 Mr. Gallatin was engaged not only in 
advising Mr. Adams at London upon the points of 
a commercial treaty with Great Britain, but also, 
together with Mr. William Eustis, minister to the 
Netherlands, in a negotiation with that govern- 
ment. 



346 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

The commission met at the Hague, Mr. Gold- 
berg and Mr. Van der Kemp representing Hol- 
land. The subjects were the treaty of 1782 be- 
tween the States-General of the Netherlands and 
the United States, the repeal of discriminating' 
duties, and the participation of the United States 
in the trade with the Dutch East Indies. The 
basis of a treaty could not be agreed upon, and 
the whole matter was referred back to the two 
governments, the American commissioners recom- 
mending to the President a repeal of duties dis- 
criminating against vessels of the Netherlands, 
which would no doubt prevent future exaction of 
extra tonnage duties imposed on American vessels 
by that government. These negotiations occupied 
the late summer months. At the end of Septem- 
ber Mr. Gallatin was again at his post in Paris. 

In June, 1818, Mr. Richard Rush, who owed 
his introduction into public life to Mr. Gallatin, 
was appointed minister to England, Adams re- 
turning to the United States to take the port- 
folio of State in President Monroe's cabinet. 
Gallatin was joined to Rush, for the conduct of 
negotiations with Great Britain, rendered nec- 
essary by the approaching expiration of the com- 
mercial convention of July 3, 1815, which had 
been limited to four years. The general field of 
disputed points was again entered. It included 
the questions of impressment, the fisheries, the 
boundaries, and indemnity for slaves. The com- 



IN DIPLOMACY. 347 

missioners were supported by a temper of the 
American people different from that which pre- 
vailed when Jay and Gallatin respectively under- 
took the delicate work of negotiation in 1794 and 
1814. A compromise was arrived at, which was 
signed on October 20, 1818. The articles on mar- 
itime rights and impressment were set aside. A 
convention was made for ten years in regard to 
the fisheries, the northwest boundary, and other 
points, and the commercial convention of 1815 was 
renewed. The English claim to the navigation of 
the Mississippi was finally disposed of, and the ar- 
ticle concerning the West India trade was referred 
to the President. The arrangement of the fishery 
question disturbed Mr. Gallatin, who found him- 
self compelled to sign an agreement which left the 
United States in a worse situation in that respect 
than before the war of 1812. But as the British 
courts would certainly uphold the construction by 
their government of the treaty of 1783, our ves- 
sels, when seized, would be condemned and a col- 
lision would immediately ensue. This, and the 
critical condition of our Spanish relations, left no 
choice between concession and war. A short time 
afterward Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of vYel- 
lington expressed friendly dispositions, and the 
mooted points of impressment and the West India 
trade were considered by them to be near an ar- 
rangement. The right of British armed vessels 
to examine American crews was abandoned in the 
convention itself. 



348 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

In July, 1818, the capture of Fort St. Mark and 
the occupation of Pensacola in Florida by Gen- 
eral Jackson made some stir in the quiet waters of 
our foreign diplomacy. Uncertain as to whether 
the act would be disavowed or justified by the 
American government, Mr. Gallatin explained to 
the European ministers that the forcible occupa- 
tion of the Spanish province was an act of self- 
defence and protection against the Indians, but 
Richelieu replied that the United States "had 
adopted the game laws and pursued in foreign 
ground what was started in its own." Yet, to 
the astonishment of Mr. Gallatin, Richelieu was 
moderate and friendly in language, and urged a 
speedy amicable arrangement of differences with 
Spain, in whose affairs France took an interest, 
and who had asked her good offices. But Galla- 
tin at once rejected any idea that the United 
States would join France in any mediation be- 
tween Spain and her revolted colonies. It seems 
rather singular that, to the suggestion that a 
Spanish prince might be sent over to America as 
an independent monarch, Gallatin contented him- 
self with expressing a doubt as to the efficacy of 
such a course to preserve their independence. Mr. 
Adams was informed that public recognition of 
the independence of the insurgent colony of Bue- 
nos Ayres would shock the feelings and prejudices 
of the French ministers, but that notwithstanding 
this displeasure, France would not join Spain in a 



IN DIPLOMACY. 849 

war on this account. England, however, would 
see such a war without regret, and privateers un- 
der Spanish commissions would instantly be fitted 
out, both in France and England. Under the ex- 
isting convention with Great Britain three hun- 
dred American vessels arrived at Liverpool in 
the first nine months of 1818 from the United 
States and only thirty English, an advantage to 
the United States which war would at once de- 
stroy. Russia also was displeased with the recog- 
nition of the independence of the Spanish colo- 
nies. At the Congress of Aix la Chapelle various 
plans of mediation were proposed, but England 
refusing to engage to break off all commercial re- 
lations with such of the insurgent colonies as 
should reject the proposals agreed to, the whole 
project was abandoned. An agreement between 
the five great powers for the suppression of the 
slave trade was also proposed at this Congress, 
but France declined to recognize the right to vi-sit 
French vessels in time of peace, and Russia mak- 
ing a similar declaration, this plan also fell to the 
ground, and even an association against the exac- 
tions of the Barbary powers was prevented by 
jealousy of the naval preponderance of Great 
Britain. 

While Mr. Gallatin was still actively engaged 
in an endeavor to put our commercial relations 
with France on a satisfactory basis, and negotiat- 
ing with M. Pasquier, the new French minister 



350 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

for foreign affairs, both with regard to indemnities 
for captures and the new Spanish relations in- 
volved in the cession of Florida to the United 
States, a serious trouble arose in which Mr. Gal- 
latin and Mr. Adams were at direct difference. 
In the spring of 1821 a French vessel, the Apol- 
lon, was seized on the St. Mary's river, on the 
Spanish side, and condemned for violation of the 
United States navigation laws. Mr. Adams sus- 
tained the seizure and Mr. Gallatin did his best 
to defend it, on the ground that the place where 
the vessel was seized was embraced in the occupa- 
tion of the United States. To Adams he wrote 
that the doctrine assumed by the State Depart- 
ment with respect to the non-ratified treaty with 
Spain was not generally admitted in Europe, and 
that " he thought it equally dangerous and incon- 
sistent with our general principles to assert that 
we had a right to seize a vessel for any cause 
short of piracy in a place where we did not pre- 
viously claim jurisdiction." Mr. Gallatin suc- 
ceeded in satisfying M. Pasquier that the seizure 
was not in violation of the law of nations or an 
insult to the French flag, and the captain having 
instituted a suit for redress against the seizing of- 
ficers, the French minister allowed the matter to 
rest. Adams, however, was indignant at having 
his arguments set aside. He complained of it to 
Calhoun, and asked what Mr. Gallatin meant. 
Calhoun answered that perhaps it was "the 



IN DIPLOMACY. 351 

prl<le of opinion." But when Adams got to his 
diary, which was the safety-valve of his ill-tem- 
per, he set a black mark against Mr. Gallatin's 
name in these words : *' Gallatin is a man of first- 
rate talents, conscious and vain of them, and 
mortified in his ambition, checked as it has been, 
after attaining the last step to the summit ; timid 
in great perils, tortuo.us in his paths ; born in Eu- 
rope, disguising and yet betraying a superstitious 
prejudice of European superiority of intellect, and 
holding principles pliable to circumstances, occa- 
sionally mistaking the left for the right handed 
wisdom." Against this judgment, Gallatin's esti- 
mate of Adams may be here set down. It was 
expressed to his intimate friend BadoUet in 1824 : 
" John Q. Adams is a virtuous man, whose tem- 
per, which is not the best, might be overlooked ; 
he has very great and miscellaneous knowledge, 
and he is with his pen a powerful debater; but he 
wants, to a deplorable degree, that most essential 
quality, a sound and correct judgment. Of this I 
have had in my ofiicial connection and intercourse 
with him complete and repeated proofs ; and al- 
though he may be useful when controlled and 
checked by others, he ought never to be trusted 
with a place where, unrestrained, his errors might 
be fatal to the country." Crawford complained 
of the difficulty he encountered in the cabinet of 
softening the asperities which invariably predomi- 
nated in the official notes of the State Department 



352 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

while under Adams's direction, and said that, had 
they been allowed to remain as originally drafted, 
the government would have been " unembarrassed 
by diplomatic relations with more than one 
power." But it must be remembered that there 
was no love lost between Adams and Crawford — 
political rivals and not personal friends. 

The commercial negotiations, and the discussion 
of French pretensions under the eighth article of 
the Louisiana treaty, opened with M. Pasquier, 
were continued with the Vicomte de Montmor- 
ency, who succeeded him as minister of foreign 
affairs. In September, 1821, Mr. Gallatin had 
communicated to Mr. Adams his intention of re- 
turning home in the spring ; but there appearing 
a chance of success in the negotiation of a treaty, 
he wrote in February, 1822, to President Monroe 
that if no successor had been appointed, he was 
desirous to remain some time longer. He was 
loath to return without having succeeded in any 
one subject intrusted to his care. Meanwhile 
Mr. Adams and M. de Neuville, the French 
minister, had been busy in the United States. A 
commercial convention was signed at Washington 
on June 24, 1822. Concerning this agreement 
Mr. Gallatin wrote to Adams that the terms were 
much more favorable to France than he had been 
led to presume would be acceded to, and more so 
than had been hoped for by the French govern- 
ment. He nevertheless expressed the wish that, 



IN DIPLOMACY. 353 

as it had been signed, it should be ratified, in an- 
ticipation that the superior activity of our ship- 
owners and seamen would enable America to stand 
the competition. 

In January, 1823, Montmorency resigned and 
was succeeded by M. de Chateaubriand. The 
change of ministers made no change in the 
French persistence in connecting the discussion 
of the American claims with that of the eighth 
article of the Louisiana treaty, an arrangement 
to which Mr. Gallatin would not consent. As a 
last resort he so informed M. de Chateaubriand, 
but receiving an unsatisfactory answer he con- 
cluded that there was at that time no disposition 
in France to do us justice ; and as his protracted 
stay could be of no service to the United States, 
he determined to return home in the course of the 
spring. In April he received leave of absence 
from the President. On May 13 he had a final 
conference with Chateaubriand, in which he could 
get no promise of any redress, but did obtain the 
explicit declaration that France would in no man- 
ner interfere in American questions. 

Mr. Gallatin took passage at Havre, and arrived 
in New York on June 24, 1823. His political 
friends, especially Crawford, were eager for his 
return. Crawford wished him to stand for vice- 
president in the coming presidential campaign. 
After a short visit to Washington he went to his 
home at New Geneva. The real value of perfect 
23 



354 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

public service, or indeed of any service, is only 
appreciated when it ceases, and friction takes the 
place of smooth and noiseless order. Hardly was 
Mr. Gallatin settled at Friendship Hill when a 
letter from President Monroe (October 15) ar- 
rived, urging him to return to Paris, if only for 
the winter, or until the crisis brought on by the 
rupture between France and Spain should be 
over. Mr. Gallatin replied, that the deranged 
state of his private affairs rendered his return to 
Europe extremely improbable. 

Goethe says in his " Elective Affinities " that 
we cannot escape the atmosphere we breathe. 
The natural atmosphere of Mr. Gallatin was public 
life. In November, 1825, Mr. Clay, Adams's Sec- 
retary of State, offered, and, meeting a refusal, 
pressed upon Mr. Gallatin the post of representa- 
tive of the United States at the proposed Congress 
of American Republics at Panama. Mr. Clay was 
right in considering it the most important mission 
ever sent from the United States, and had Mr. Gal- 
latin accepted it, relations with these interesting 
countries might have been improved to an immeas- 
urable degree of happiness to them, and of benefit 
to both continents. But his family would not 
hear of his exposure in the fatal climate of the 
American Isthmus. Moreover, he pleaded his ig- 
norance of the Spanish language as a sufficient 
excuse for declining the mission, — an example 
which has not been followed in later days. 



IN DIPLOMACY, 355 

MINISTER TO ENGLAND. 

In the spring of 1826 Mr. Rufus King, who 
had taken the place of Mr. Rush at London, that 
gentleman having been called to the Treasury by- 
President Adams, fell ill, and requested the assist- 
ance of an extraordinary envoy. Mr. Gallatin 
accepted the mission. Before his nomination 
reached the Senate Mr. King's resignation was 
received and accepted. President Adams wishing 
to intrust Mr. Gallatin alone with the pending 
negotiations, and unwilling to make the two nom- 
inations of Minister and Envoy, proposed to Mr. 
Gallatin to take the post of minister, with powers 
to negotiate, and liberty to return when the ne- 
gotiations should be finished. Personal expenses 
at London were so great that the post of resident 
minister was ruinous. Mr. Adams promised Mr. 
Gallatin carte blanche as to his instructions. But 
instead of latitude and discretionary power he 
received at New York voluminous directions which 
he engaged faithfully to execute, while regretting 
that they had not been made known to him sooner. 
Nevertheless, in the three days which intervened 
before his sailing, he wrote to Mr. Clay a lucid 
statement of the points in issue, and mentioned 
the modifications he desired. The points were, 1, 
the northeastern boundary. Upon this he was 
only authorized to obtain a reference of the sub- 
ject to a direct negotiation at Washington. He 



356 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

asked consent, in case it should be desirable, to 
open a negotiation on this point at London. 
Should Great Britain refuse to open a negotia- 
tion at either place, or to agree to a joint state- 
ment, then he was not to be bound to propose an 
immediate reference to a third power. 2. The 
boundary west of the Stony Mountains. The in- 
structions limited British continuance on settle- 
ments south of the 49th parallel to five years. 
Mr. Gallatin thought this insufficient, and pro- 
posed fifteen years. 3. The St. Lawrence naviga- 
tion, and the intercourse with Canada, as to which 
he suggested alternate plans. 4. Colonial trade, 
on which he asked precise instructions as to what 
was desired. To the President he complained of 
his instructions as ' of the most peremptory nature, 
leaving no discretion on unimportant points, and 
making of him a mere machine,' and he requested 
that it be officially announced to him ' that the in- 
structions were intended to guide but not abso- 
lutely to bind him.' He was not afraid of incur- 
ring responsibility where discretion was allowed, 
but he would not do it in the face of strict and 
positive injunctions. Mr. Gallatin sailed from 
New York with his wife and daughter July 1, 
1826. Mr. William Beach Lawrence, then a 
youth, accompanied him as his secretary. They 
reached London on August 7. 

Canning was then at the head of the foreign 
office, and the temper of the ministry was not that 



IN DIPLOMACY. 357 

of Castlereagh and Wellington. Mr. Gallatin did 
not like French diplomacy, nor did he admire that 
of England. He wrote to his son : ' Some of the 
French statesmen occasionally say what is not 
true ; here (in London) they conceal the truth.' 
But while in diplomacy he found strength and the 
opinion of that strength to be the only weapons, 
he felt satisfaction that the country could support 
its rights and pretensions by assuming a different 
attitude. In the course of the negotiations Mr. 
Gallatin learned that one of the King's ministers 
had complained of the tone of United States diplo- 
macy towards England, and had added, that it 
was time to show that it was felt and resented. 
No such fault could attach to the correspondence 
of Mr. Rush and Mr. King, or to that of Mr. Clay, 
which Mr. Addington had found quite acceptable ; 
but it was ascribed to Mr. Adams's instructions to 
Mr. Rush, printed by order of the Senate. Mr. 
Gallatin later discovered that the offensive re- 
marks were in Baylies' report on the territory west 
of the Stony Mountains. Mr. Gallatin explained 
the independence of the House committees in the 
United States, but as a diplomatist he felt the 
need of a concert between the Executive and the 
committees of Congress in all that concerns for- 
eign relations. Government, after all, is a complex 
science. 

The simple directness with which Mr. Gallatin 
dealt with Lord Liverpool could not serve with a 



358 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

man of Canning's disposition. Mr. Gallatin did 
not fail to bring to bear the pressure of a possible 
change in the relations of the United States and 
Great Britain, which might arise from the war 
which seemed imminent between that power and 
Spain. The new questions of Cuba, and the old 
habit of impressment, might at once bring the 
United States into collision with England. But 
the war did not take place, and the close of the 
year found the negotiations not far advanced. 
Only the convention of 1815 would no doubt be 
renewed. He asked for further instructions on 
that subject, the joint occupancy of western terri- 
tory, and impressments, all of which he hoped to 
arrange in the spring and summer, and return 
home. Mr. Lawrence he found to be a secretary 
more capable in the current business of the lega- 
tion than any of his predecessors. Mr. Gallatin 
could safely leave him there as charg^ d'affaires. 

In December, Chateaubriand used in the House 
of Peers the words which Mr. Gallatin had said 
to him, ' that England could not take Cuba with- 
out making war on the United States, and that she 
knew it.' Mr. Gallatin so informed Adams, and 
added, that France would no doubt agree, as 
Chateaubriand would have agreed, to a tripartite 
instrument if England were of the same opinion. 

In March, 1827, Adams warned Gallatin that 
the sudden and unexpected determination of Great 
Britain to break off all negotiation concerning the 



IN DIPLOMACY. 359 

colonial trade, and the contemporaneous interdic- 
tion of the vessels of the United States from all 
British ports in the West Indies, had put a new 
face on matters. A renewal of the convention of 
1818 would probably be agreed to by the Senate, 
but no concession in the form of a treaty would 
be acceptable. His words were emphatic. " One 
inch of ground yielded on the northwest coast, — 
one step backward from the claim to the naviga- 
tion of the St. Lawrence, — one hair's breadth of 
compromise upon the article of impressment 
would be certain to meet the reprobation of the 
Senate." In this temper of parties, Adams added, 
" all we can hope to accomplish will be to adjourn 
controversies which we cannot adjust, and say to 
Britain as the Abbe Bernis said to Cardinal 
Fleuri : * Monseigneur j' attendrai.' " 

But changes now occurred in the British Min- 
istry : Lord Liverpool died in February, 1827 — 
Mr. Canning in the following August. Lord God- 
erich became Prime Minister. The new adminis- 
tration returned from Canning's eccentric course 
to the old and quiet path. The commercial con- 
vention of 1815 was renewed indefinitely, each 
party being at liberty to abrogate it at twelve 
months' notice. The joint occupancy of the Ore- 
gon Territory, agreed to in 1818, was continued in 
a similar manner. On September 29 a conven- 
tion was signed, referring the northeast boundary 
to the arbitration of a friendly sovereign. Mr. 



860 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Gallatin believed that, had Canning lived, he 
would have opened a negotiation on the subject 
of impressment. Huskisson considered that ' the 
right, even if well founded, was one the exercise 
of which was intolerable, but that this was not the 
time to take up the subject.' The new British ad- 
ministration did not dare to encounter the clamor 
of the navy,* the opposition of the Tories, and the 
pride of the nation on this question. 

Having accomplished all that was practicable, 
completed all the current business, and leaving the 
British government in a better temper than he 
found it, Mr. Gallatin returned to the United 
States, reaching New York on November 29, 
1827. Nothing remained in foreign relations in 
respect to which Mr. Gallatin felt that he could 
be of much use except the northeast boundary. 
In a letter of congratulation to Mr. Gallatin on 
his arrival. President Adams made ample amends 
for all his harsh judgments, expressed or withheld. 
The three conventions were entirely satisfactory 
to him. Of the negotiation he said, in words as 
graceful as warm, '' I shall feel most sensibly the 
loss of your presence at London, and can form 
no more earnest wish than that your successor 
may acquire the same influence of reason and good 
temper which you did exercise, and that it may 
be applied with as salutary effect to the future 
discussions between the two governments." Dur- 
ing his visit to London Mr. Gallatin was over- 



IN DIPLOMACY, 361 

whelmed with civilities. Canning was courteous 
to a degree, and rarely a day passed that the 
American ambassador had not to choose between 
half a dozen invitations to dinner. At the house 
of the Russian minister, the Count de Li even, he 
was always welcome, and the Countess de Lieven, 
the autocrat of foreign society in London, with- 
out whose pass no stranger could cross the sacred 
threshold of Almack's, was his fast friend. To 
each circle he carried that which each most prized. 
Whether the conversation turned upon government 
or science, the dry figures of finance, or the more 
genial topic of diplomatic intrigue, Mr. Gallatin 
was its easy master, and his words never fell on 
inattentive ears. 

With this mission to London Mr. Gallatin's di>. 
plomatic service closed. He would have accepted 
the French mission in 1834, and so informed Van 
Buren, but General Jackson, who was President, 
had his own plans, and 'ran his machine ' without 
consulting other than his own prejudices or whims. 
But although Mr. Gallatin was no longer in the 
field of diplomacy, his counsels were eagerly sought. 
The northeastern boundary was a troublesome ques- 
tion, indeed in the new phases of American poli- 
tics an imminent danger. The extension of the 
commercial relations of Great Britain and the 
United States rendered it imperative that no point 
of dispute should remain which could be deter* 



862 ALBERT GALLATm. 

mined. For two years after his return from Eng- 
land, Mr. Gallatin was employed in the prepara- 
tion of an argument to be laid before the King 
of the Netherlands, who had been selected as the 
arbiter between the United States and Great 
Britain on the boundary. The King undertook to 
press a conventional line, which the United States, 
not being bound to accept, refused. In 1839 Mr. 
Gallatin prepared, and put before the world, a 
statement of the facts in the case. This, revised, 
together with the speech of Mr. Webster, a copy 
of the Jay treaty, and eight maps, he published at 
his own expense in 1840. 

At this time conflicts on the Maine frontier 
brought the subject up in a manner not to be 
ignored. Popular feeling was at high pitch. In 
this condition of affairs Alexander Baring, who 
had been raised to the peerage as Lord Ashburton, 
was sent to America on a mission of friendship 
and peace. As a young man he had listened to 
the debate on Jay's treaty in 1795. He was now 
to be received by Webster in Washington in the 
same spirit in which Grenville received Jay in 
London, when it was mutually understood that 
they should discuss the matter as friends and not 
as diplomatists, and leave their articles as records 
of agreement, not as compromises of discord. Gal- 
latin eagerly awaited the arrival of his old friend, 
and was grievously disappointed when contrary 
winds blew the frigate which carried him to An- 



IN DIPLOMACY. 363 

napolis. Letters were immediately exchanged ; 
Lord Ashburton engaging before he left the coun- 
try to find Gallatin out, and, as he said, to " draw 
a little wisdom from the best welL^^ After the 
treaty was signed, Lord Ashburton went from 
Washington to New York, and the old friends 
met once more: Mr. Gallatin was in his 82d 
year, but in the full possession of his faculties j 
Lord Ashburton in his 68th year : a memorable 
meeting of two great men, whose lives had much in 
common ; the one the foremost banker of England, 
the other the matchless financier of America ; and 
to this sufficient honor was added for each the 
singular merit of having negotiated for his country 
the most important treaty in its relation to the 
other since the separation of 1783, — Mr. Gal- 
latin, the Treaty of Ghent, which gave peace to 
America ; Lord Ashburton, that treaty which is 
known by his name and which secured peace to 
Great Britain. 

In 1846 Mr. Gallatin rendered his last diplo- 
matic service by the publication of a pamphlet on 
the Oregon question, which was then as threaten- 
ing as that of the northeastern boundary had 
been. This admirable exposition, which put be- 
fore the people as well as negotiators the precise 
merits of the controversy, powerfully contributed 
to the ultimate peaceful settlement. 

Still once more Mr. Gallatin threw his authori- 
tative words into the scale of justice. His last ap- 



364 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

pearance in public had been when he presided on 
April 24, 1844, at a meeting in New York city to 
protest against the annexation of Texas. He then 
held that the resolution of the House declaring the 
treaty of annexation between the United States of 
America and the Republic of Texas to be the fun- 
damental law of union between them, without and 
against the consent of the Senate, was a direct and 
undisguised usurpation of power and a violation of 
the Constitution. In the storm of opposition he 
lifted his feeble voice in condemnation of the vio- 
lation of treaties, and the disregard of the sacred 
obligations of mankind. *' I am highly gratified," 
were his final words, " I am highly gratified that 
the last public act of a long life should have been 
that of bearing testimony against this outrageous 
attempt. It is indeed a consolation that my al- 
most extinguished voice has been on this occasion 
raised in defence of liberty, of justice, and of our 
country." Of the war with Mexico, he was wont 
to say, "that it was the only blot upon the es- 
cutcheon of the United States." Aged as he was, 
he would not rest until he had made his last ap- 
peal for peace with Mexico. He also prepared 
supplementary essays on war expenses : the first 
of these was published in 1847, the second in 
1848. For months all his faculties, all his feelings 
were absorbed in this one subject. These pam- 
phlets were widely circulated by the friends of 
peace. The venerable sage had the comfort of 



I 



IN DIPLOMACY. S65 

knowing that his words were not in vain. Peace 
with Mexico was signed on February 2, 1848. 

Mr. Gallatin was no believer in the doctrine of 
* manifest destiny,' — the policy of bringing all 
North America into the occupation of a race speak- 
ing the same language, and under a single govern- 
ment. On February 16, 1848, before news of the 
signature of the treaty at Guadalupe Hidalgo, by 
Mr. Trist, the American negotiator, was known in 
New York, Mr. Gallatin condemned this idea in a 
remarkable passage, in a letter to Garrett Davis : 

" What shall be said of the notion of an empire ex- 
tending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the 
North Pole to the Equator ? Of the destiny of the 
Anglo-Saxon race, of its universal monarchy over the 
whole of North America ? Now, I will ask, which is 
the portion of the globe that has attained the highest 
degree of civilization and even of power — Asia, with 
its vast empires of Turkey, India, and China, or Europe 
divided into near twenty independent sovereignties ? 
Other powerful causes have undoubtedly largely contrib- 
uted to that result ; but this, the great division into ten 
or twelve distinct languages, must not be neglected. But 
all these allegations of superiority of race and destiny 
neither require nor deserve any answer. They are but 
pretences under which to disguise ambition, cupidity, or 
silly vanity." 

The justice of these reflections was assuredly 
borne out by the experience of history, but mani- 
fest destiny takes no account of past lessons. • 



366 ALBERT GALLATIN, 

Before these lines of Mr. Gallatin's were penned, 
on January 19, 1848, gold was discovered in Cali- 
fornia. The announcement startled the world 
and opened a new era, not only to Europe, but to 
mankind. Extending the metallic basis, which no 
man better than Mr. Gallatin recognized and held 
to be the true medium of money transactions, it 
postponed for a half century the inevitable conflict 
between capital and labor, the first outbreaks of 
which in Europe had been with difficulty sup- 
pressed, when the news of good tidings gave prom- 
ise of unexpected relief. Credit revived, new en- 
terprises of colossal magnitude were undertaken, 
and the demand for labor quickly exceeded the 
supply. Emigration to America rose to incredible 
proportions. Had Mr. Gallatin lived, he would 
have found new elements to be weighed in his nice 
balance of probabilities. He would no longer, as 
in 1831, have been compelled to say that " specie 
is a foreign product," but would have given to 
us inestimable advice as to the proper use to be 
made of the vast sums taken out from our own 
soil. He would have been also brought to face 
the ethnologic problem of a continent inhabited by 
a single race, not Anglo-Saxon, nor Teutonic, nor 
yet Latin, but a composite race in which all these 
will be merged and blended ; a new American 
race which, springing from a broader surface, 
shall rise to higher summits of intellectual power 
and, with a greater variety of natural qualities, 



2N DIPLOMACY. 367 

achieve excellence in more numerous ways. This 
vision was denied to Mr. Gallatin. He died at 
the threshold of the new era — of the golden age. 
Four decades have not passed since his death, and 
the United States has taken from her soil a value 
of over fifteen hundred millions of dollars, in gold 
and silver, more than a third of the total amount 
estimated by Mr. Gallatin as the store of Europe in 
1831 ; and has also added to her population, by im- 
migration alone, ten millions of people, of whom 
but a small proportion are of the Anglo-Saxon 
race. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CANDIDATE FOK THE VICE-PEESIDENOY. 

During the twelve years that Mr. Gallatin was 
in the Treasury he was continually looking for 
some man who could take his place in that of- 
fice, and aid in the direction of national politics ; 
to use his own words, " who could replace Mr. 
Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and himself." Brecken- 
ridge of Kentucky only appeared and died. The 
eccentricities of John Randolph unfitted him for 
leadership. William H. Crawford of Georgia, 
Monroe's Secretary of the Treasury, alone filled 
Gallatin's expectations. To a powerful mind 
Crawford "united a most correct judgment and 
an inflexible integrity. Unfortunately he was 
neither indulgent nor civil, and, consequently, was 
unpopular." Andrew Jackson, Gallatin said, 
" was an honest man, and the idol of the worship- 
pers of military glory, but from incapacity, mili- 
tary habits, and habitual disregard of laws and 
constitutional provisions, entirely unfit for the of- 
fice of president." John C. Calhoun he looked 
upon as " a smart fellow, one of the first amongst 
second-rate men, but of lax political principles 



CANDIDATE FOR THE VICE-PRESIDENCY. 369 

and an inordinate ambition, not over-delicate in 
the means of satisfying itself." Clay he consid- 
ered to be a man of splendid talents and a generous 
mind. John Quincy Adams to be ' wanting to 
a deplorable degree in that most essential qual- 
ity, a sound and correct judgment.' 

The contest lay between Adams and Crawford. 
Crawford was the choice of Jefferson and Madison 
as well as of Gallatin. The principles of the Re- 
publican party had so changed, that Nathaniel 
Macon could say in 1824, in reply to a request 
from Mr. Gallatin to take part in a caucus for the 
purpose of forwarding Mr. Crawford's nomination, 
that there were " not five members of Congress 
who entertained the opinions which those did who 
brought Mr. Jefferson into power." But Macon 
was of the Brutus stamp of politicians ; of that 
stern cast of mind which does not ' alter when it 
alteration finds or bend with the remover to re- 
move,' and held yielding to the compulsion of cir- 
cumstances to be an abandonment of principle. 

Jefferson still held the consolidation of power 
to be the chief danger of the country, and the 
barrier of state rights, great and small, to be its 
only protection even against the Supreme Court. 
Gallatin took broader ground, and found encour- 
agement in the excellent working of universal 
suffrage in the choice of representatives to legis- 
lative bodies. But he was opposed to the exten- 
sion of the principle to municipal officers having 
24 



870 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

the application of the proceeds of taxes, forgetting 
that universal suffrage is the lever by which capi- 
tal is moved to educate labor and relieve it from 
the burthens of injury, disease, and physical in- 
capacity at the expense of the whole. Without 
stopping to argue these debateable questions, Mr. 
Gallatin, with practical statesmanship, determined 
to maintain in power the only agency by which 
he could at all shape the political future, and he 
threw himself into the canvass with zeal. 

Crawford had unfortunately been stricken with 
paralysis, and the choice of a vice-president be- 
came a matter of grave concern. Mr. Gallatin 
was selected to take this place on the ticket. To 
this tender he replied, that he did not want the 
office, but would dislike to be proposed and not 
elected, and he honestly felt that as a foreigner 
and a residuary legatee of Federal hatred his 
name could not be of much service to the cause. 
Still, he followed the only course by which any 
party can be held together, and surrendered his 
prejudices and fears to the wishes of his friends. 
The Republican caucus met on February 14, 1824, 
in the chamber of the House of Representatives. 
Of the 216 members of the party only QQ at- 
tended. Martin Van Buren, then senator from 
New York, managed this, the last congressional 
caucus for the selection of candidates. 

The solemnity given to the congressional nom- 
inations, and the publicity of the answers of can- 
didates, Mr. Gallatin held to be political blunders, 



CANDIDATE FOR THE VICE-PRESIDENCY. 371 

In fact the plan was adroitly denounced as an at- 
tempt to dictate to the people. 

Crawford was nominated for president by 64 
votes, Gallatin for vice-president by 67. This 
nomination Mr. Gallatin accepted in a note to Mr. 
Ruggles, United States senator, on May 10, 1824. 
But there were elements of which party leaders 
of the old school had not taken sufficient account. 
Macon was right when he said that " every gener^ 
ation, like a single person, has opinions of its own, 
as much so in politics as anything else," and that 
* the opinions of Jefferson and those who were 
with him were forgotten.' And Jefferson himself, 
in his complacent reflection that even the name of 
Federalist was " extinguished by the battle of 
New Orleans," did not see that the Republican 
party of the old school had been snuffed out by 
the same event. The new democracy, whose 
claims to rule were based, not on the policy of 
peace or restricted powers, but on the seductive 
glitter of military glory, was in the ascendant, and 
General Jackson was the favorite of the hour. 
New combinations became necessary, and Mr. Gal- 
latin was requested to withdraw from the ticket, 
and make room for Mr. Clay, whose great western 
influence it was hoped would save it from defeat. 
This he gladly did in a declaration of October 2, 
addressed to Martin Van Buren, dated at his Fay- 
ette home, and published in the " National Intel- 
ligencer." The result of the election was singular. 
Calhoun was elected vice-president by the people. 



372 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

The presidential contest was decided in the House, 
Adams being chosen over Jackson and Crawford, 
by the influence of Clay. Mr. Gallatin quickly 
discerned in the failure of the people to elect a 
president the collapse of the Republican party. 
He considered it as " fairly defunct." 

Jackson had already announced the startling 
doctrine that no regard was to be had to party in 
the selection of the great officers of government, 
which Mr. Gallatin considered as tantamount to a 
declaration that principles and opinions were of no 
importance in its administration. To lose sight 
of this principle was to substitute men for meas- 
ures. Jackson's idea of party, however, was per- 
sonal fealty. He engrafted the pouvoir personnel 
on the Democratic party as thoroughly as Napo- 
leon could have done in his place. Moreover, Gal- 
latin considered Jackson's assumption of power in 
his collisions with the judiciary at New Orleans 
and Pensacola, and his orders to take St. Augus- 
tine without the authority of Congress, as danger- 
ous assaults upon the Constitution of the country 
and the liberties of the people, and he dreaded 
the substitution of the worship of a military chief- 
tain for the maintenance of that liberty, the last 
hope of man. Ten years later he uttered the same 
opinion in a conversation with Miss Martineau, 
and he expressed a preference for an annual pres- 
ident, a cipher, so that all would be done by the 
ministry. But in the impossibility of this plan, 
he would have preferred a four years term without 



CANDIDATE FOR THE VICE-PRESIDENCY. 373 

renewal or an extension of six years ; an idea 
adopted by Davis in his plan of disintegration by 
secession. The presidency, Mr. Gallatin thought, 
was " too much power for one man ; therefore it 
fills all men's thoughts to the detriment of better 
things." 

When Mr. Gallatin visited Washington in 1829, 
he found a state of society, political and social, 
widely at variance with his own experience. The 
ways of Federalist and Republican cabinets were 
traditions of an irrevocable past. Jackson was 
political dictator, and took counsel only from his 
prejudices. The old simplicity had given way to 
elegance and luxury of adornment. The east room 
of the presidential mansion was covered with 
Brussels' carpeting. There were silk curtains at 
the windows, French mirrors of unusual size, and 
three splendid English crystal chandeliers. In the 
dining-room were a hundred candles and lamps, 
and silver plate of every description, and presiding 
over this magnificence the strange successors of 
Washington and his stately dame, of Madison and 
his no less elegant wife, — the hero of New Or- 
leans and Peggy O'Neal. 

When, it is not too soon to ask, in the general 
reform of civil service, shall the possibility of such 
anomalies be entirely removed by restricting the 
executive mansion to an executive bureau, and 
entirely separating social ceremony from official 
state, to the final suppression of back stairs influ- 
ence and kitchen cabinets. 



CHAPTER X. 

SOCIETY — LITERATUKE — SCIENCE. 

Mr. Gallatin's land speculations were not 
profitable. His plan of Swiss colonization did not 
result in any pecuniary advantage to himself. His 
little patrimony, received in 1786, he invested in a 
plantation of about five hundred acres on the Mo- 
nongahela. Twelve years later, in 1798, he was 
neither richer nor poorer than at the time of his in- 
vestment. The entire amount of claims which he 
held with Savary he sold in 1794, without warranty 
of title, to Robert Morris, then the great specu- 
lator in western lands, for four thousand dollars, 
Pennsylvania currency. This sum, his little farm, 
and five or six hundred pounds cash were then 
his entire fortune. In 1794, the revolution in 
Switzerland having driven out numbers of his 
compatriots, he formed a plan of association con- 
sisting of one hundred and fifty shares of eight 
hundred dollars each, of which the Genevans in 
Philadelphia, Odier, Fazzi, the two Cazenove, 
Cheriot, Bourdillon, Duby, Couronne, Badollet, 
and himself took twenty-five each. Twenty-five 
were offered to Americans, which were nearly all 



SOCIETY^ LITER A T URE — SCIENCE. 375 

taken up, and one hundred were sent to Geneva, 
Switzerland, to D'Yvernois and his friends. The 
project was to purchase land, and Mr. Gallatin 
had decided upon a location in the northeast part 
of Pennsylvania, or in New York, on the border. 
In the summer Gallatin made a journey through 
New York to examine lands with the idea of oc- 
cupation. In July, 1795, he made a settlement 
with Mr. Morris, taking his notes for three thou- 
sand five hundred dollars. Balancing his ac- 
counts, Mr. Gallatin then found himself worth 
seven thousand dollars, in addition to which he 
had about twenty-five thousand acres of waste 
lands and the notes of Mr. Morris. In 1798 Mr. 
Morris failed, and, under the harsh operations of 
the old law, was sent to jail. Mr. Gallatin never 
recovered the three thousand dollars owed to him 
in the final balance of his real estate operations. 

After Mr. Gallatin left the Treasury he located 
patents for seventeen hundred acres of Virginia 
military lands in the State of Ohio, on warrants 
purchased in 1784. In 1815 he valued his entire 
estate, exclusive of his farm on the Monongahela, 
at less than twelve thousand dollars. Forty years 
later he complained of his investment as a troub- 
lesome and unproductive property, which had 
plagued him all his life. Besides the purchase of 
lands, Mr. Gallatin invested part of his little capi- 
tal in building houses on his farm, and in the 
country store which BadoUet managed. The one 



376 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

yielded no return, and the sum put in the other 
was lost through the incompetency of his honest 
but inexperienced friend. His wife brought him 
a small property, but at no time in his life was he 
possessed of more than a modest competency. 
But he had never anj^ discontent with his fortune 
nor any desire to be rich. 

Mrs. Gallatin, who had always until her mar- 
riage lived in cities, was entirely unfit for frontier 
life. In these days of railroads it is not easy to 
measure the isolation of their country home. 
Pittsburgh was nearly five days' journey from 
Philadelphia, and the crossing of the Alleghanies 
took a day and a half more. Before his marriage 
Mr. Gallatin had seen very little of society. 
Though in early manhood he felt no embarrass- 
ment among men, he said " that he never yet was 
able to divest himself of an anti-Chesterfieldian 
awkwardness in mixed companies." He did not 
take advantage of his residence in Philadelphia to 
accustom himself to the ways of the world. There 
he lived in lodgings and met the leading public 
characters of both parties. But when he took his 
seat in the cabinet, he found it necessary to enter 
upon housekeeping and to take a prominent part 
in society, for which his wife was admirably suited, 
both by temperament and education. Washing- 
ton Irving wrote of her in November, 1812, that 
she was ' the most stylish woman in the drawing- 
room that session, and that she dressed with more 



80CIETT— LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 377 

splendor than any other of the noblesse ; ' and 
again the same year compared her with the wife 
of the president, whose courtly manners and con- 
summate tact and grace are a tradition of the re- 
publican court. " Tell your good lady," mother 
Irving wrote to James Renwick, " that Mrs. Madi- 
son has been much indisposed, and at last Wednes- 
day's evening drawing-room Mrs. Gallatin presided 
in her place. I was not present, but those who 
were assure me that she filled Mrs. Madison's 
chair to a miracle." This is in the sense of dig- 
nity, for Mrs. Gallatin was of small stature. 

Mr. Gallatin's house shared the fate of the pub- 
lic buildings and was burned by the British when 
Washington was captured in 1814. He was then 
in London negotiating for peace. On his return 
from France Mr. Gallatin made one more attempt 
to realize his early idea of a country home, and 
with his family went in the summer of 1823 to 
Friendship Hill. Here an Irish carpenter built 
for him a house which he humorously described 
as being in the ' Hyberno-teutonic style, — the 
outside, with its port-hole-looking windows, hav- 
ing the appearance of Irish barracks, while the 
inside ornaments were similar to those of a Dutch 
tavern, and in singular contrast to the French 
marble chimney-pieces, paper, mirrors, and bil- 
liard-table.' In the summer Friendship Hill was 
an agreeable residence, but Mr. Gallatin found it 
in winter too isolated even for his taste. 



378 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

One exciting circumstance enlivened tbe spring 
of 1825. This was the passage of Lafayette, the 
guest of the nation, through western Pennsyl- 
vania on hio famous tour. Mr. Gallatin welcomed 
him in an address before the court-house of Union- 
town, the capital of Fayette County, on May 26. 
In his speech Mr. Gallatin reviewed the condition 
of the liberal cause in Europe, and the emancipa- 
tion of Greece, then agitating both continents. In 
this all scholars as well as all liberals were of one 
mind and heart. After the proceedings Lafayette 
drove with Mr. Gallatin to Friendship Hill, where 
he passed the night ; crowds of people pouring 
down the valley from the mountain roads to see 
the adopted son of the United States, the friend of 
Washington, the liberator of France. The inti- 
macy between these two great men, who had alike 
devoted the flower of their youth to the interests of 
civilization and the foundation of the new republic, 
was never broken. 

Mr. Gallatin passed only one winter at New 
Geneva. On his return from his last mission to 
England he settled permanently in New York, and 
in 1828 took a house at No. 113 Bleecker Street, 
then in the suburbs of the city. He wrote to Ba- 
dollet in March, 1829, that 'it was an ill-contrived 
plan to think that the banks of the Monongahela, 
where he was perfectly satisfied to live and die in 
retirement, could be borne by the female part of 
his family, or by children brought up at Washing- 



SOCIETY — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 379 

ton and Paris." The population of New York has 
always been migratory, and Mr. Gallatin was no 
exception to the rule. In the ten years which 
followed his first location he changed his residence 
on four May days, finally settling at No. 57 
Bleecker Street, nearly opposite to Crosby Street. 
His life in New York is a complete period in his 
intellectual as in his physical existence, and the 
most interesting of his career. His last twenty 
years were in great measure devoted to scientific 
studies. 

The National Bank, over which he presided for 
the first ten years, took but a small part of his 
time. The remainder was given up to study and 
conversation, an art in which he had no superior 
in this country and probably none abroad. Soon 
after his arrival in New York, Mr. Gallatin was 
chosen a member of " The Club," an association 
famous in its day. As no correct account of this 
social organization has ever appeared, the letter of 
invitation to Mr. Gallatin is of some interest. It 
was written by Dr. John Augustine Smith, on 
November 2, 1829. An extract gives the origin 
of the club. 

" Nearly two years ago some of the literary gentle- 
men of the city, feeling severely the almost total want 
of intercourse among themselves, determined to es- 
tablish an association which should bring them more 
frequently into contact. Accordingly they founded the 
* Club ' as it is commonly called, and which I believe I 



880 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

mentioned to you when I had the pleasure of seeing 
you in Bond Street. Into this ^ Club ' twelve persons 
only are admitted, and there are at present three gentle- 
men of the Bar, Chancellor Kent, Messrs. Johnston and 
Jay, three professors of Columbia College, Messrs. 
McVickar, Moore, and Ren wick, the Rev. Drs. Waiu- 
wright and Mathews, the former of the Episcopal 
Church, the latter of the Presbyterian Church, two mer- 
chants, Messrs. Brevoort and Goodhue, and I have the 
honor to represent the medical faculty. Our twelfth 
associate was Mr. Morse, of the National Academy of 
Design, of which he was president, and his departure for 
Europe has caused a vacancy. For agreeableness of 
conversation there is nothing in New York at all com- 
parable to our institution. We meet once a week ; no 
officers, no formalities ; invitations, when in case of in- 
telligent and distinguished strangers, and after a plain 
and light repast, retire about eleven o'clock." 

At this club Mr. Gallatin, with his wonderful 
conversational powers, became at once the centre of 
interest. The club met at the houses of members 
in the winter evenings. There was always a sup- 
per, but the rule was absolute that there should 
be only one hot dish served, a regulation which the 
ladies endeavored to evade when the turn of their 
husbands arrived to supply the feast. Among the 
later members were Professor Anderson, John 
A. Stevens, Mr. Gallatin's countryman De Rham, 
John Wells, Samuel Ward, Gulian C. Verplanck, 
and Charles King. No literary symposium in 
America was ever more delightful, more instruo- 



SOCIETY — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 881 

tive, than these meetings. On these occasions Mr. 
Gallatin led the conversation, which usually cov- 
ered a wide field. His memory was marvellous, 
and his personal acquaintance with the great men 
who were developed by the French revolution, 
emperors and princes, heroes, statesmen, and men 
of science, gave to the easy flow of his speech the 
zest of anecdote and the spice of epigram. Once 
heard he was never forgotten. And this rare 
faculty he preserved undiminished to the close of 
his life. Washington Irving, himself the most 
genial of men, and the most graceful of talkers, 
wrote of him, after meeting him at dinner, in 1841 :\ 
" Mr. Gallatin was in fine spirits and full of con- \ 
versation. He is upwards of eighty, yet has all 
the activity and clearness of mind and gayety of 
spirits of a young man. How delightful it is to 
see such intellectual and joyous old age : to see 
life running out clear and sparkling to the last 
drop ! With such a blessed temperament one / 
would be content to linger and spin out the lasty/^ 
thread of existence." 

At the close of the year 1829 Mr. Gallatin at- 
tempted to carry out his old and favorite plan of 
the " establishment of a general system of rational 
and practical education fitted for all, and gratui- 
tously open to all." The want of an institution for 
education, combining the advantages of a Euro- 
pean university with the recent improvements in 
instruction, was seriously felt. New York, already 



382 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

a great city, and rapidly growing, offered the most 
promising field for the national university on a 
broad and liberal foundation correspondent to the 
spirit of the age. The difficulty of obtaining com- 
petent teachers of even the lower branches of 
knowledge in the public schools, the system of 
which was in its infancy, was great. Persons 
could be found with learning enough, but they 
were generally deficient in the art of teaching. 
Governor Throop noticed this deficiency in his 
message of January, 1830, without, however, the 
recommendation of any remedy by legislation. 
The existing colleges could not supply the want. 
At this period religious prejudice controlled the 
actions of men in every walk of life ; for the old 
colonial jealousies of Episcopalian and Presbyte- 
rian survived the Revolution. The religious dis- 
trust of scientific investigation was also at its 
height. Columbia College, the successor of old 
King's College, was governed in the Episcopalian 
interest. Private zeal could alone be relied upon 
to establish the new enterprise on a foundation 
free from the influence of clergy ; an indispensa- 
ble condition of success. These were the views 
of Mr. Jefferson in 1807. These were the views 
of Mr. Gallatin. In response to his request abun- 
dant subscriptions in money and material were at 
once forthcoming. 

The project of a national university at New 
York was received by the literary institutions of 



SOCIETY — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 383 

the United States with great enthusiasm. In Oc- 
tober, 1830, a convention of more than a hundred 
literary and scientific gentlemen, delegates from 
different parts of the country, and of the highest 
distinction, was held in the common council cham- 
ber. The outcome of their deliberations was the 
foundation of the New York University. Mr. 
Gallatin was the president of the first council, but 
his connection with the institution was of short 
continuance. The reasons for his withdrawal were 
set forth in a letter to his old friend, John Badol- 
let, written February 7, 1833. Beginning with an 
expression of his desire to devote what remained 
of his life " to the establishment in this immense 
and growing city (New York) of a general system 
of rational and practical education fitted for all 
and gratuitously opened to all," he said, " but 
finding that the object was no longer the same, 
that a certain portion of the clergy had obtained 
the control, and that their object, though lauda- 
ble, was special and quite distinct from mine, I re- 
signed at the end of one year rather than to strug- 
gle, probably in vain for what was nearly unat- 
tainable." The history of the university through 
its precarious existence of half a century amply 
justifies Mr. Gallatin's previsions and retirement. 
Instead of the American Sorbonne, of which he 
dreamed, it has never been more than a local in- 
stitution, struggling to hold a place in a crowded 
field. 



384 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Mr. Gallatin followed the evolutions of French 
politics with interest. His friend Lafayette, who, 
during the Empire, lived in almost enforced re- 
tirement at his estate of La Grange, was a volun- 
tary exile from the court of Charles X., whose 
autocratic principles and aggressive course were 
rapidly driving France into fresh revolution. In 
July, 1830, the crisis was precipitated by the royal 
decrees published in the " Moniteur." Lafayette, 
who was on his estate, hurried instantly to Paris, 
where he became a rallying point, and himself 
signed the note to the King, announcing that he 
had ceased to reign. In September following it 
fell to him to write to Mr. Gallatin on the occasion 
of the marriage of Gallatin's daughter. In this 
union Lafayette had a triple interest. Besides 
his personal attachment for Mr. Gallatin, each of 
the young couple was descended from one of his 
old companions-in-arms. The groom, Mr. Byam 
Kerby Stevens, was a son of Colonel Ebenezer 
Stevens, of the continental service, who was La- 
fayette's chief of artillery in his expedition against 
Arnold in Virginia, in the spring of 1781 ; the 
bride, Frances Gallatin, was, on the mother's side, 
the granddaughter of Commodore James Nichol- 
son, who commanded the gunboats which, impro- 
vised by Colonel Stevens, drove out the British 
vessels from Annapolis Bay and opened the route 
to the blockaded American flotilla.^ 

1 An account of this expedition may be found in the public* 
iions of the Maryland Historical Societjo 



SOCIETY— LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 385 

" Paris, September 8, 1830. 
" My Dear Friend : — A long time has elapsed 
irince I had the pleasure to hear from you. I need not, 
1 hope, add, that my affectionate feelings have been con- 
tinually with you, especially in what related to my young 
friend whose change of name has more deeply interested 
every member, and in a very particular manner, the 
younger part of the family. Let me hear of you all, 
and receive my tender regards and wishes, with those of 
my children and grandchildren. Lafayette." 

Both of the young people had the honor of La- 
fayette's acquaintance. Mr. Stevens during a visit 
to Paris, and Miss Gallatin during her father's 
residence there as minister, when she was much 
admired, and was, in the words of Madame Bona- 
parte (Miss Patterson), ' a beauty.' In this letter 
Lafayette gives a picturesque account of the three 
days' fighting at the barricades, and of the depart- 
ure of the ex-king and the royal army, accom- 
panied by "some twenty thousand Parisians, in 
coaches, hacks, and omnibus. . . . The royal party, 
after returning the jewels of the crown, went 
slowly to Cherbourg with their own escort, under 
the protection of three commissioners, and were 
there permitted quietly to embark for England." 

In 1834 Mr. Gallatin's sympathies were greatly 
excited by the arrival at New York of a number 
of Poles, many of them educated men, and among 
them Etsko, a nephew of Kosciusko. A public 
committee was raised, called the Polish committee, 

25 



386 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

of which Mr. Gallatin was chosen chairman. Be- 
sides superintending the collection of funds, he 
arranged and carried out in the minutest details a 
plan to quarter the exiles upon the inhabitants. 
A list of names ending in ski still remains among 
his papers ; to each was assigned a number, and 
they were allotted by streets and numbers, — 
number 182, one Szelesegynski, was taken by Mr. 
Gallatin himself, to look after horses. These un- 
fortunate men were then distributed through the 
country, as occupations could be found. In Octo- 
ber Mr. Gallatin's notes show that all had been 
provided for except fourteen boys, for whom a 
subscription was taken up. A tract of land in 
Illinois was assigned by Congress to these political 
exiles. 

Mr. Gallatin's first acquaintance with the Amer- 
ican Indian was made at Machias. In the neigh- 
borhood of this frontier town, across the Canadian 
border, there were still remnants of the Abenaki 
and Etchemin tribes. They were French in sym- 
pathy, and all converts to the Roman Catholic 
faith. Mr. Lesdernier, with whom Gallatin lodged, 
had influence over them from the trade he estab- 
lished with them in furs, and as their religious 
purveyor. He had paid a visit to Boston at the 
time the French fleet was there in 1781, and 
brought home a Capuchin priest for their service. 
To the young Genevan, brought up in the restric- 
tions of European civilization, the history of the 



SOCIETY — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 387 

savage was a favorite study. In the winter even- 
ings, in the quiet of the log hut, with the aid of 
one familiar with the customs and traditions of the 
race, the foundations were laid of a permanent 
interest in this almost untrodden branch of human 
science. The Canadian Indians, however, hemmed 
in by French and English settlements, were semi- 
civilized. The Miamis and Shawnees, who ranged 
the valley of the Ohio, were the tribes nearest to 
Gallatin's home on the Monongahela. These, 
though for a long time under the influence of the 
French, retained their original wildness, and were, 
during the first years of his residence, the dread 
of the frontier. 

The interest aroused in the mind of Mr. Galla- 
tin ,by personal observation was quickened by his 
intimacy with Jefferson, whose "Notes on Vir- 
ginia," published in 1801, contained the first at- 
tempt at a class^cation and enumeration of the 
American tribes. The earlier work of Golden was 
confinedTto the Five Nations of the Iroquois Con- 
federacy. The arrangement of the Louisiana ter- 
ritory, ceded by France, brought Mr. Gallatin into 
contact with Pierre Louis Chouteau, and an inti- 
macy, formed with John Jacob Astor, who was 
largely concerned in the fur trade of the North- 
west, widened the field of interest, which included 
the geography of the interior, and the customs of 
its inhabitants. Mr. Gallatin's examination of the 
subject was general, however, and did not take a 
practical scientific turn until the year 1823, when, 



388 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

at the request of Baron Alexander von Humboldt, 
he set forth the results of his studies in the form of 
a Synopsis of the Indian tribes. This essay, com- 
municated by Humboldt to the Italian geographer 
Balbi, then engaged upon his " Atlas Ethnograph- 
ique du Globe," — a classification by languages of 
ancient and modern peoples, — was quoted by him 
in his volume introductory to that remarkable 
work published in 1826, in a manner to attract the 
attention of the scientific world. Vater, in his 
" Mithridates," first attempted a classification of 
the languages of the globe, but the work of Mr. 
Gallatin, though confined in subject, was original 
in its conception and treatment. In the winter of 
1825-26 a large gathering of southern Indians at 
Washington enabled him to obtain good vocabu- 
laries of several of the tribes. Uniting these to 
those already acquired, he published a table of all 
the existing tribes, and at the same time, at his 
instance, the War Department circulated through 
its posts a vocabulary containing six hundred 
words of verbal forms and of selected sentences, 
and a series of grammatical queries, to which an- 
swers were invited. He also opened an elaborate 
correspondence with such persons as were best 
acquainted with the Indian tribes in different sec- 
tions of the country. 1 The replies to these vari- 

Washington, 29th May, 1826. 
1 Sir, — Mr. Stewart communicated to me yo'ir answer of 4th 
April last to the letter which, at my request, he had addressed to 
you J and I return you my thanks for your kind offer to forward 



SOCIETY— LITERATURE - SCIENCE. 389 

ous queries were few in number, but the practical 
plan, adhered to in substance, has resulted in the 
collection by the Smithsonian Institution of a very 
large number of Indian vocabularies.^ 

the object in view ; one which is not, however, of a private nature 
but connected with what is intended to be a National work, and I 
have delayed writing in order to be able to send at the same 
time the papers herewith transmitted. 

It is at my suggestion that the Secretary of War has, with the 
approbation of the President, taken measures to collect compara- 
tive vocabularies of all the languages and dialects of the Indian 
tribes still existing within the United States. The circular is ad- 
dressed to all the Indian superintendents and agents, and to the 
missionaries with whom the Department corresponds. But they 
have no agent with the Nottoways, and we are fortunate that you 
should have been disposed to lend your aid on this occasion. 

It is the intention of government that the result of these re- 
searches should be published, giving due credit to every indi- 
vidual who shall have assisted in a work that has been long ex- 
pected from us, and which will be equally honorable to the per- 
sons concerned and to the country. It had been my intention to 
contribute my share in its further progress : this my approaching 
departure for Europe forbids. The inclosed papers, attending to 
the Notes and to the circular, are so full that I need not add any 
further explanation, and have only to request that you will have 
the goodness to transmit whatever vocabulary and other infor- 
mation you may obtain to Colonel Tho. L. McKinney, Office of 
Indian Affairs, under cover directed to the Secretary of War. 
Mr. McKinney will also be happy to answer any querries on the 
subject you may have to propose. 

I have the honor to be respectfully, sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

Albert Gallatin. 
Mr. James Rochelle, 

Jerusalem, Southampton County, Virginia. 

Communicated by J. H. Rochelle, Jerusalem^ Virginia. 

* Among the most distinguished of those who have followed 



390 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

This class of investigation, in its ample scope for 
original research and the ascertainment of princi- 
ples by analysis and analogic expression, was pe- 
culiarly agreeable to Mr. Gallatin. His friend, du 
Ponceau,! ^\^q served in the American war as the 
secretary of Steuben, and was now established in 
Philadelphia, was likewise deeply engaged in phil- 
ologic studies ; in 1819 he had published a memoir 
of the construction of the languages of the North 
American Indians, which he followed later with 
other papers of a similar nature, among which 
were a " Grammar of the Languages of the Lenni 
Lenape or Delaware Indians," and a memoir on 
the grammatical system of the languages of the 
Indian tribes of North America, a learned and 
highly instructive paper, which took the Volney 
prize at Paris. 

In 1836 Mr. Gallatin's original paper, contrib- 
uted to Balbi, amplified by subsequent acquisi- 
tions, was published by the American Antiquarian 
Society of Worcester, in the first volume of its 
Transactions. It was entitled " A Synopsis of the 
Indian Tribes, within the United States east of 
the Rocky Mountains, and in the British and 
Russian Possessions in North America." This 

the pathway indicated by Mr. Gallatin was the late George 
Gibbs, an indefatigable student, and an admirable ethnologist. 
His Chinook jargon was published by the Smithsonian Institution. 
1 Mr. du Ponceau became president of the learned societies of 
Pennsylvania : the Historical Society and the American Philo 
fiophical Society. 



SOCIETY -^LITERATURES SCIENCE. 391 

elaborate inquiry, the foundation of the science in 
America, was intended originally to embrace all 
the tribes north of the Mexican semi-civilized na- 
tions. From the want of material, however, it 
was confined at the southward to the territory of 
the United States, and eastward of the Rocky 
Mountains. It included eighty-one tribes, di- 
vided into twenty-eight families, and was accom- 
panied by a colored map, with tribal indications. 
The result of the investigation Mr. Gallatin held 
to be proof that all the languages, not only of our 
own Indian tribes, but of the nations inhabiting 
America from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn, 
have a distinct character common to all. This 
paper attracted great attention in Europe. It was 
reviewed by the Count de Circourt, whose interest 
in the subject was heightened by personal ac- 
quaintance with the author. John C. Calhoun, 
acknowledging receipt of a copy of the Synopsis, 
said in striking phrase, " that he had long thought 
that the analogy of languages is destined to re- 
cover much of the lost history of nations just as 
geology has of the globe we inhabit." 

In 1838, Congress having accepted the trust of 
John Smithson of £100,000, and pledged the faith 
of the United States for its purposes, Mr. For- 
syth, the Secretary of State, addressed Mr. Gal- 
latin, at the request of the President, requesting 
his views as to its proper employment ; but Mr. 
Gallatin does not appear to have answered the 



392 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

communication. The programme of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, inclosed to the board of re- 
gents in its first report, stated its object to be the 
increase and diffusion of knowledge, and bears 
marks of the general views which Mr. Gallatin had 
for many years urged on public attention. The 
first of the Smithsonian " Contributions to Knowl- 
edge " was the memoir of Ancient Monuments of 
the Mississippi Valley, by Squier and Davis. Be- 
fore its publication was undertaken, however, it was 
submitted to the Ethnological Society ; Mr. Gal- 
latin returned it, with the approval of the society, 
and some words of commendation of his own ad- 
dressed to Professor Henry, the learned superin- 
tendent of the Smithsonian Institution. 

The period of temporary political repose, which 
followed the peace of Vienna and the establish- 
ment of the balance of power by the allied sover- 
eigns, was an era in human knowledge. Science 
made rapid progress, and in its turn showed the 
broad and liberal influence of the great revolution. 
In 1842 societies were founded in Paris and Lon- 
don to promote the study of ethnology. Mr. Gal- 
latin would not be behindhand in this important 
work for which America offered a virgin field. 
Drawing about him a number of gentlemen of 
similar tastes with his own, he founded in New 
York,, in 1842, the American Ethnological Society. 
Among his associates were Dr. Robinson, the fa- 
mous explorer of Palestine, Schoolcraft, Bartlett, 



I 



80CIE TT — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 393 

and Professor Turner, noted for their researches 
in the history and languages of the Indian races. 
Messrs. Atwater, Bradford, Hawks, Gibbs, Mayer, 
Dr. Morton, Pickering, Stephens, Ewbank, and 
Squier were also, either in the beginning, or soon 
after, members of this select and learned institu- 
tion, of which Mr. Gallatin was the central figure. 
One of its members said in 1871, ' Mr. Gallatin's 
house was the true seat of the society, and Mr. 
Gallatin himself its controlling spirit. His name 
gave it character, and from his purse mainly was 
defrayed the cost of the two volumes of the 
" Transactions " which constitute about the only 
claim the society possesses to the respect of the 
scientific world.' 

To the first of these volumes, published in 1845, 
Mr. Gallatin contributed an " Essay on the semi- 
civilized nations of Mexico and Central America, 
embracing elaborate notes on their languages, nu- 
meration, calendars, history, and chronology, and 
an inquiry into the probable origin of their semi- 
civilization." In this he included all existing cer- 
tain knowledge of the languages, history, astron- 
omy and progress in art of these peoples. A copy 
of this work he sent to General Scott, then in the 
city of Mexico after his triumphant campaign, 
inclosing a memorandum which he urged the Gen- 
eral to hand to civilians attached to the army. 
This was a request to purchase books, copies of 
documents, printed grammars, and vocabularies of 



394 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

the Mexican languages, and he authorized the 

General to spend four hundred dollars in this pur- 
pose on his account. In the second volume, pub- 
lished in 1848, he printed the result of his con- 
tinued investigations on the subject which first 
interested him, as an introduction to a republica- 
tion of a work by Mr. Hale on the *' Indians of 
Northwest America." This consisted of geograph- 
ical notices, an account of Indian means of sub- 
sistence, the ancient semi-civilization of the North- 
west, Indian philology, and analogic comparisons 
with the Chinese and Polynesian languages. 
These papers Mr. Gallatin modestly described to 
Chevalier as the ' fruits of his leisure,' and to 
Sismondi he wrote that he had not the requisite 
talent for success in literature or science. They 
nevertheless entitle him to the honorable name of 
the Father of American Ethnography. 

In 1837 Mr. Wheaton, the American minister 
at Berlin, requested Mr. Gallatin to put the Baron 
von Humboldt in possession of authentic data con- 
cerning the production of gold in the United 
States. Humboldt had visited the Oural and Si- 
berian regions in 1829, at the request of the Em- 
peror of Russia, to make investigations as to their 
production of the precious metals. Mr. Gallatin 
was the only authority in the United States on the 
subject. Later von Humboldt wrote to Mr. Gal- 
latin of the interest felt abroad, and by himself, in 
the gold of the mountains of Virginia and Ten- 



80CIET Y — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 395 

nessee, a country which rivalled on a small scale 
the Dorado of Siberia. The treasures of the 
Pacific coast were not yet dreamed of. 

Mr. Gallatin perfectly understood the range of 
his own powers. He said of himself : — 

"If I have met with any success, either in public 
bodies, as an executive officer, or in foreign negotiations, 
it has been exclusively through a patient and most 
thorough investigation of all the attainable facts, and a 
cautious application of these to the questions under dis- 
cussion. . . . Long habit has given me great facility in 
collating, digesting, and extracting complex documents, 
but I am not hasty in drawing inferences ; the arrange- 
ment of the facts and arguments is always to me a con- 
siderable labor, and though aiming at nothing more than 
perspicuity and brevity, I am a very slow writer." 

Mr. Gallatin's manuscripts and drafts show long 
and minute labor in their well considered and 
abundant alterations. Referring on one occasion 
to his habit of reasoning, Mr. Gallatin remarked, 
that of all processes that of analogy is the most 
dangerous, yet that which he habitually used; 
that it required the greatest possible number of 
facts. This is the foundation of philology, and his 
understanding of its method and its dangers is the 
reason of his success in this branch of science. 

The difficulty experienced in establishing any 
literary or scientific institutions in New York was 
very great. An effort made in 1830, which Mr. 
Gallatin favored, to establish a literary periodical 



896 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

failed, not on account of the pecuniary diflBculties, 
but from the impossibility of uniting a sufl&cient 
number of able cooperators. But Mr Gallatin's 
interest in literature was not as great as in science.^ 

In 1841 a national institution for the promotion 
of science was organized at Washington. The co- 
operation of Mr. Gallatin was invited, but the 
society had a short existence. In 1843 Mr. Gal- 
latin was chosen president of the New York His- 
torical Society. His inaugural address is an epi- 
tome of political wisdom. Pronounced at any 
crisis of our history, it would have become a 
text for the student. In this sketch he analyzed 
the causes which contributed to form our national 
character and to establish a government founded 
on justice and on equal rights. He showed how., 
united by a common and imminent danger, the 
thirteen States succeeded in asserting and obtain- 
ing independence without the aid of a central and 
efficient government, and the difficulties which 
were encountered when a voluntary surrender of 
a part of their immense sovereignty became neces- 
sary as a condition of national existence. He said 
that the doctrine that all powers should emanate 
from the people is not a question of expediency. 

In this address he summed up the reasons why 

1 His favorite novel was The Antiquary, which he read once a 
year. Novels, he said, should be read, the last chapter first, in 
order that appreciation of the style should not be lost in the 'voe 
terest excited by the story. 



SOCIETY — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 397 

Washington exercised such a beneficial influence 
upon the destinies of his country. In a confiden- 
tial letter to his wife in 1797, he expressed an 
opinion that the father of his country was not a 
good-natured and amiable man, but time had mel- 
lowed these recollections and softened the asperity 
of this judgment. Washington had not, he said 
(in 1813), ' an extraordinary amount of acquired 
knowledge; he was neither a classical scholar, nor 
a man of science, nor was he endowed with the 
powers of eloquence, nor with other qualities more 
strong than solid, which might be mentioned ; but 
he had a profound and almost innate sense of 
justice, on all public occasions a perfect control 
of his strong passions,^ above all a most com- 
plete and extraordinary self-abnegation. Personal 
consequences and considerations were not even 
thought of, they never crossed his mind, they 
were altogether obliterated.' Mr. Gallatin held 
that " the Americans had a right to be proud of 
Washington, because he was selected and main- 
tained during his whole career by the people — 
never could he have been thus chosen and con- 
stantly supported had he not been the type and 
representative of the American people." 

The commemoration of the fortieth anniver- 

1 Mr. Gallatin's assertion, which corresponded with that of Jef- 
ferson, that Washington had naturally strong passions, but had 
attained complete mastery over them, is quoted by the Earl of 
Stanhope (Lord Mahon) in his famous eulogy on Washington's 
attributes. 



398 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

sary of the foundation of the New York Historical 
Society, November, 1844, was an occasion of un- 
usual interest. John Romeyn Brodhead, who had 
just returned from the Hague with the treasures 
of New Netherland history gathered during his 
mission, was the orator of the day. The venera- 
ble John Quincy Adams, Mr. Gallatin's old asso- 
ciate at Ghent, was present. After the address, 
which was delivered at the Church of the Mes- 
siah on Broadway, the society and its guests 
crossed the street to the New York Hotel, where 
a banquet awaited them. Mr. Gallatin retired 
early, leaving the chair to the first vice-president, 
Mr. Wm. Beach Lawrence. After he had left the 
room, Mr. Adams, speaking to a toast to the ar- 
chseologists of America, said : " Mr. Gallatin, in 
sending to me the invitations of the society, added 
the expression of his desire ' to shake hands with 
me once more in this world.' " Mr. Adams could 
not but respond to his request. In his remarks 
he said : — 

" I have lived long, sir, in this world, and I have been 
connected with all sorts of men, of all sects and descrip- 
tions. I have been in the public service for a great 
part of my life, and filled various offices of trust, in 
conjunction with that venerable gentleman, Albert Gal- 
latin. I have known him half a century. In many 
things we differed ; on many questions of public inter- 
est and policy we were divided, and in the history of 
parties in this country there is no man from whom I 



80CIET Y - LITER A T URE — S CIENCE. 399 

have so widely differed as from him. But in other 
things we have harmonized ; and now there is no man 
with whom 1 more thoroughly agree on all points, than 
I do with him. But one word more let me say, before 
I leave you and him, birds of passage as we are, bound 
to a warmer and more congenial clime, — that among all 
public men with whom I have been associated in the 
course of my political life, whether agreeing or differing 
in opinion from him, I have always found him to be an 
honest and honorable man." 

In the road to harmony Mr. Adams had to do 
the travelling. Mr. Gallatin never changed his 
political opinions. The political career of the two 
men offered this singular contrast. Adams, dis- 
satisfied with his party, passed into opposition — 
Gallatin, though at variance with the policy of the 
administration of which he made a part, held his 
fealty, and confined himself to the operations of 
his own bureau. 

For a period far beyond the allotted years of 
man Mr. Gallatin retained the elasticity of his 
physical nature as well as his mental perspicacity. 
In middle age he was slight of figure, his height 
about five feet ten inches, his form compact and 
of nervous vigor. His complexion was Italian ; ^ 
his expression keen ; his nose long, prominent ; 
his mouth small, fine cut, and mobile ; his eyes 
hazel, and penetrative ; his skull a model for the 

1 The Gallatins claim to descend from one Callatinus, a Roman 
Consul. 



400 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

sculptor. Thus he appears in the portrait painted 
by Gilbert Stuart about the time that he took 
charge of the Treasury Department ; he was then 
about forty years of age. In the fine portrait by 
William H. Powell, taken from life in 1843, and 
preserved in the gallery of the New York His- 
torical Society, these characteristics appear in 
stronger outline. Monsieur de Bacourt,i the liter- 
ary executor of Talleyrand, who was the French 
Ambassador to the United States in 1840, paid a 
visit to Mr. Gallatin in that year, and describes 
him as " a beau vieillard de quatre-vingt ans," 
who has fully preserved his faculties. Bacourt 
alludes to his remarkable face, with its clear, fine 
cut features, and his "physiognomic pleine de 
finesse ; " and dwells also upon the ease and charm 
of his conversation. 

As his life slowly drew to its close, one after 
another of the few of his old friends who re- 
mained dropped from the road. Early in 1848 
Adams fell in harness, on the floor of the House 
of Representatives ; Lord Ashburton died in May. 
Finally, nearest, dearest of all, the companion of 
his triumphs and disappointments, the sharer of 
his honors and his joys, his wife, was taken from 
him by the relentless hand. The summer of 
1849 found him crushed by this last affliction, and 
awaiting his own summons of release. He was 
taken to Mount Bonaparte, the country-seat of 
1 Souvenirs d'un Diplomate. Paris, 1882. 



SOCIETY — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 401 

his son-in-law, at Astoria on Long Island, where 
he died in his daughter's arms on Sunda}'-, Au- 
gust 12, 1849. The funeral services were held in 
Trinity Church on the Tuesday following, and his 
body was laid to rest in the Nicholson vault,^ in 
the old graveyard adjoining. The elegant monu- 
ment erected during his lifetime is one of the at- 
tractive features of this venerable cemetery, in 
whose dust mingle the remains of the temple of 
no more elevated spirit than his own. The season 
was a terrible one — the cholera was raging, the 
city was deserted. In the general calamity private 
sorrow disappeared, or the occasion would have 
been marked by a demonstration of public grief 
and of public honor. As the tidings went from 
city to city, and country to country, the friends 
of science, of that universal wisdom which knows 
neither language nor race, paused in their investi- 
gations to pay respectful homage to his character, 
his intellect, and to that without which either or 
both in combination are inadequate to success — 
his labor in the field. 

On October 2, 1849, at the first meeting of the 
Historical Society after the death of Mr. Gallatin, 
Mr. Luther Bradish, the presiding officer, spoke of 
him in impressive words, as the last link connect- 
ing the present with the past. He dwelt upon 
the peculiar pleasure with which the presence of 

1 This was the vault of the Witter family, a daughter of which 
Commodore Nicholson married. 
2^ 



402 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Mr. Gallatin was always hailed, and the peculiar 
interest it gave to the proceedings of the society, 
and many an eye was dimmed, as he recalled the 
venerable form, the beautifully classic head, the 
countenance ever beaming with intelligence, and 
summed up the long and useful career of the de- 
parted sage in these impressive words : — 

" The name of Albert Gallatin is emphatically a name 
of history. Few men have lived in any age whose bi- 
ographies have been so intimately connected with the 
history of their country. Living in one of the most in- 
teresting periods of the world, a period of great events, 
of the discussion of great principles and the settlement of 
great interests, almost the whole of his long and active 
life was passed in public service amidst those events and 
in those discussions. . . . For nearly half a century he 
was almost constantly employed in the public service ; al- 
most every department of that service has received the 
benefit of his extraordinary talents and his varied and 
extensive and accurate knowledge. Whether in legisla- 
tion, in finance, or in diplomacy, he has been equally 
distinguished in all. In all or in either he has had few 
equals and still fewer superiors." 

To Jeremy Bentham Mr. Gallatin acknowledged 
himself indebted, as his master in the art of legis- 
lation ; but from whatever ground he drew his 
maxims of government, they were reduced to har- 
mony in the crucible of his own intelligence by 
the processes of that brain which Spurzheim pro- 



S OCTET Y — LITERATURE — SCIENCE. 403 

nounced capital/ and Dumont held to be the best 
head in America. In that massive and profound 
structure lay faculties of organization and adminis- 
tration which mark the Latin and Italian mind in 
its highest form of intellectual development. 

His moral excellence was no less conspicuous 
than his intellectual power. He had a profound 
sense of justice, a love of liberty, and an unfalter- 
ing belief in the capacity of the human race for 
self-rule. Versed in the learning of centuries, 
and familiar with every experiment of govern- 
ment, he was full of the liberal spirit of his age. 
To a higher degree than any American, native or 
foreign born, unless Franklin, with whose broad 
nature he had many traits in common, Albert 
Gallatin deserves the proud title, aimed at by 
many, reached by few, of Citizen of the World. 

1 " In my youth the fashion was to decide in conformity with 
Lavater's precepts ; then came Camper's facial angle, which gave 
a decided superiority to the white man and monkey ; and both 
have been superseded by the bumps of the skull. This criterion 
is that which suits me best, for Spurzzeim declared I had a 
capital head, which he might without flattery say to everybody. 
Gallatin to Lewis T. Cist of Cincinnati, November 21, 1837. 



II5"DEX. 



Adams, Henry, Ghent Treaty, 335. 

Adams, John, convenes Congress, 136 ; 
message, 137 ; answer to address, 
141 ; entertains members, 143 ; ad- 
dress, 143; entertains the House, 
144 ; message on French outrages, 
152 ; on French relations, 158 ; ad- 
dress, 163 ; on permanent seat of 
government, 167 ; New England 
solid for, 169 ; breach with Hamil- 
ton, 183. 

&.dams, John Quincy, on Smith's ap- 
pointment, 305 ; minister to Russia, 
peace commissioner, 312 ; diplo- 
matic training, 313 ; contrasted with 
Gallatin, 314 ; disputes with Clay, 
334 ; persistence in fisheries ques- 
tion, 334 ; minister to England, 338 ; 
joins Gallatin at London, 338 ; sec- 
retary of state, 346 ; difference with 
Gallatin, 350 ; opinion of Gallatin, 
351 ; Gallatin's opinion of, 351, 369 ; 
Crawford complains of, 351 ; nego- 
tiates convention with Neuville, 352 ; 
on boimdary question, 359 ; con- 
gratulates Gallatin, 360 ; tribute to 
Gallatin, 398. 

Adams, William, British commissioner 
to Ghent, 328. 

Address to the President, 108, 109, 
132, 137, 164. 

Adet, French minister, his impudence, 
132 ; insults the government, 138. 

Aix la Chappelle, congress of, 349. 

Alexander, Emperor, mediation of, 
309, 319, 326, 327. 

Algiers, treaty with, 121. 

Alien Bill, 157, 168. 

AUegre, Sophie, married to Gallatin, 
31 ; dies, 31. 

Allen, M. C, Connecticut, 140, 155. 

Ames, Fisher, M. C, Massachusetts, 
124, 125, 132, 133, 137. 

Anti-Federalists, 38, 40. 

ApoUon, French vessel, seized, 350. 

Appropriations, permanent footing, 
111 ; principle of, debated, 112 ; 
Bpecific, 254. 



Army establishment, 127, 134. 
Ashburton, Lord. See Alexander Bart 

hig. 
Astor, John Jacob, 221, 268, 278, 297, 

298. 
Astoria, 298. 
"Aurora," the, 107, 296, 307, 308, 

Bache, Franklin, 4. 

Bache, editor of " Aurora," 107. 

Badollet, Jean, college companion of 
Gallatin, 5, 9 ; teaches theology at 
Geneva, 26 ; joins Gallatin at Clare's, 
27 ; established at Greensburg, 28 ; 
register of land oflSce, 297- 

Bathurst, Lord, 331. 

Bank, Jefferson opposed to, 290 ; of 
England, 256; of France, 256; of 
North America, 178, 256, 257, 266 ; 
of the United States proposed by 
Hamilton, 181, 259; opposed by Jef- 
ferson, 259 ; incorporated, 260 ; 
operations of, 261 ; renewal of char- 
ter refused, 263 ; influence of, 267 ; 
Astor unfriendly to, 268 ; conse- 
quences of dissolution, 269 ; second 
bank proposed by Dallas, 274 ; bill 
vetoed, 274 ; bank chartered, 274 
Jefferson and Madison's course con- 
cerning, 275 ; of Pennsylvania char 
tered, 280 ; management of, 281 : 
collapse of, 285. 

Banking system, of United States, 256 
national, 265 ; essay on by Gallatin, 
277 ; state, 265, 267, 272. 

Banks, suspension of, 1815, 270, 282 
resumption, 276, 285. 

Baring, Alexander, Lord Ashburton 
informs Gallatin of English views, 
317 ; friendship for, 322 ; invites 
him to London, 323 ; envoy to United 
States, 362; visits Gallatin, 363; 
death of, 400. 

Bartlett, John Russell, anecdotes of 
Gallatm, 14, 22. 

Bayard, James A., M. C, Delaware, 
Federalist, 137 ; in Jefferson's elec- 
tion, 172 J envoy to Russia, 312; 



406 



INDEX. 



views on impressment, 316; min- 
ister to Russia, 338. 

Bentham, Jeremy, Gallatin's master 
in the art of legislation, 402. 

Berlin and Milan decrees, 34:4. 

Bloimt, William, senator, 142. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 136, 143, 166, 
328, 338, 343. 

Bonaparte, Jerome, 343. 

Boston, French caft5 at, 12 ; society in 
1780, 13. 

Boundary question, 331-334, 346, 359. 

Boimdary, northeast, 359, 361. 

Brackenridge, Judge, at Washington 
County anti-excise meeting, 71 ; Par- 
kinson's Ferry meeting, 73 ; account 
of Whiskey Insurrection, 73 ; elected 
to Congress, 96. 

Braddock's Field, meeting of malcon- 
tents on, 74. 

Bradford, David, leader in Whiskey 
Insurrection, 51 ; represents Wash- 
ington County in Pennsylvania Leg- 
islature, 54 ; draws remonstrance to 
Congress, 54 ; despised by Gallatin, 
56 ; stops U. S. mail, 72 ; urges vio- 
lence, 72 ; countermands rendez- 
vous, 72 ; again takes lead, 73 ; his 
appearance on Braddock's Field, 
74 ; delegate to Parkinson's Ferry 
convention, 81 ; excepted from am- 
nesty office, 87. 

Bradish, Luther, tribute to Gallatin, 
401. 

Breading, Nicholas, 37. 

Brodhead, John Romeyn, oration of, 
398. 

Brownsville, Pa., 28; anti-excise meet- 
ing at, 52. 

Burr, Aaron, vice-president, 172. 

Calhoun, John C, Gallatin's opinion 
of, 3CS ; striking remark of, 391. 

California, gold discovered in, 366. 

Campbell, George W., report of, 
drafted by Gallatin, 302, 314 ; sec- 
retary of treasury, 324. 

Canning, George, policy of delay, 306 ; 
order m council, 253 ; temper of 
his ministry, 357, 358 ; death of, 
359 ; courtesy to Gallatin, 361 . 

Carnahan, account of Whiskey Insur- 
rection, 93. 

Castlereagh, Lord, sets aside Russian 
mediation, 315 ; second refusal of, 
323 ; arrives in London, 327 ; passes 
through Ghent, 330 ; negotiates com- 
mercial convention, 338 ; friendly 
dispositions, 347. 

Chase, Salmon P., secretary of treas- 
ury, his financial plan, 203, 265. 

Chateaubriand, minister of foreign 



affairs, continues negotiations, 353 i 
quotes GaUatin, 358. 

Chesapeake, frigate, captured by Leo- 
pard, 232. 

ChevaUer, Michel, financial essays, 
232. 

Chouteau, Pierre Louis, 297, 397. 

Circourt, Count de, reviews Gallatin's 
synopsis of Indian tribes, 391. 

Clare's, Fayette County, residence of 
Gallatin and Savary, 25. 

Clay, Henry, commissioner to Ghent, 
324 ; dispute with Adams, 334 ; per. 
sistence on the Mississippi naviga. 
tion question, 334 ; negotiation with 
Castlereagh, 338 ; opinion of the 
Panama Congress, 354 ; hampers 
Gallatin with instructions, 355 ; dip- 
lomatic correspondence, 357 ; Gal- 
latin's opinion of, 369. 

Club, the, New York, 379 ; Gallatin's 
conversation at, 381. 

Cobbett, William, famous phrase of, 
148. 

Columbia College, New York, 382. 

Commissioners to Ghent, American, 
appointed, 324 ; Gallatin added to, 
324 ; arrive at Ghent, 328 ; consider 
mission closed, 329 ; British, ar- 
rive at Ghent, 328 ; their absurd de- 
mands, 329 ; ordered to moderate 
their tone, 330. 

Constellation, frigate, 128 ; action with 
La Vengeance, 165. 

Constitution, frigate, 128. 

Convention, commercial, with France, 
354; with Great Britain, 338; re- 
newed, 347 ; renewed indefinitely, 
359 

Cook, Edward, 81. 

Copenhagen, described by Gallatin, 
312. 

Cravi^ord, W. H., minister to France, 
solicits aid of Emperor Alexander, 
326 ; complains of Adams, 351 ; de- 
sires Gallatin to stand for vice-pres- 
ident, 358 ; Gallatin's opinion of, 
368; stricken with paralysis, 370; 
nominated for president, 371. 

Cuba, tripartite agreement concern- 
ing, 358. 

Cumberland road, 300. 

Dallas, Alexander J., secretary of 
treasury, compared with Gallatin, 
29 ; parentage of, 60 ; secretary of 
state for Pennsylvania, 60 ; intnna- 
cy with Gallatin, 60 ; excursion with 
Gallatin, 60 ; on internal taxes, 244 ; 
appeals to the banks, 273 ; proposes 
a National Bank, 274 ; resigns 
Treasury, 275. 



INDEX. 



407 



Dallas, George M., secretary to en- 
voys, 312 ; sent to London, 321. 

Davis, Matthew L., 294. 

Dawson, M. C, on sedition law, 168. 

Dayton, Jonathan, speaker of House, 
101 ; joins Republican opposition, 
101 ; reelected speaker, 137 ; on Ad- 
ams's message, 139 ; returns to Fed- 
eralists, 154 ; silence of, 158 ; vote 
of thanks to, 163. 

Debt, public, "view of "by Gallatin, 
191 ; of U. S., 178, 198, 202, 205 ; 
209, 212 ; policy of reduction, 289. 

De Lesdernier. See Lesdernier. 

Democratic party, rise of, 371. 

Dexter, Samuel, secretary of treasury, 
183 ; holds over, 188. 

Duane, William, editor of "Aurora," 
296 ; intimacy with JefferSon, 296 ; 
abuse of Gallatin, 307, 308. 

Dumout, Etienne, college companion 
of Gallatin, 5 ; translates Bentham, 
5 ; Gallatin's opinion of, 5 ; invited 
by Gallatin to America, 26 ; in Eng- 
land, 337 ; his opinion of Gallatin, 
402. 

East Indies, Dutch, trade of, 346. 

Edgar, James, 83, 85, 92. 

Embargo Act, 211, 302. 

Enforcement Act, 303. 

Emigration, extent of, to U. S., 365. 

England, Gallatin's opinion of her 
diplomacy, 315 ; her true policy, 
315. 

Erskine, David M., British minister, 
negotiations of, 306. 

Ethnological Society, American, found- 
ed by Gallatin, 392, 393; publica- 
tions by, 393. 

Eustis, William, minister to Nether- 
lauds, negotiates treaty, 346. 

Excise Bill, Hamilton's, opposed in 
Pennsylvania, 50 ; passed, 50 ; op- 
posed in western counties, 51 ; meet- 
ings in opposition to, at Brownsville, 
Washington, and Pittsburgh, 52, 53 ; 
violent resolutions against, at Wash- 
ington and Pittsburgh, 52-54; Hamil- 
ton's indignation and Washington's 
proclamation, 55 ; offenders against 
prosecuted, 55 ; writs served and 
violent resistance, 70. 

Fauchet, French minister, 106, 138. 

Federal Constitution adopted, 34 ; 
Gallatin's influence against, 35 ; op- 
posed and ratified in Pennsylvania, 
35-37 ; revised by Congress, 52 ; 
amendments ratified, 42. 

Federal convention, its action ap- 
proved by people, 35. 



Federal party, its pride in Washing- 
ton as its chief, 101 ; its leaders 
in fourth Congress, 102 ; detests 
French revolution, 104 ; accused as 
monarchists, 104; holds up red flag of 
war, 122 ; nominal majority in fifth 
Congress, 137 ; repudiates charge of 
British influence, 138 ; opposes inter- 
ference witli Executive, 138 ; regains 
majority in Senate, 143 ; believes 
England to be lost, 144 ; New Eng- 
land the stronghold of, 169 ; break 
in, 183 ; policy to strengthen the 
government, 259 ; leaves no diplo- 
matic discord, 290 ; confines office 
to its own ranks, 290 ; extinguished 
by battle of New Orleans, 371. 

Ferney, the retreat of Voltaire, 8. 

Few, William, Colonel, of Georgia, 62. 

Finance, committee of, in the House, 
proposed by Gallatin, origin of Ways 
and Means committee, composition 
of, 110. 

Finances, United States, before Mor- 
ris, 177 : relation of coin to paper in. 
1778, 177 ; plan of Morris, 178 ; abo- 
lition of treasury board, 178 ; Hol- 
land loan negotiated, 178 ; public 
debt 1783, Morris retires, 179 ; new 
board of treasury 1784-1788, Treas- 
ury Department established, 180; 
Hamilton's first report, 180 ; fxmd- 
ing resolutions, 181 ; sinking fund 
established, 182 ; Wolcott succeeds 
Hamilton, 183 ; first issue of U. S. 
stock, 184 ; Gallatin takes Treasury, 
186 ; his estimate for 1802, 197 ; 
dispute as to Treasury balance, 197 ; 
management of, from 1800-1808, 
200; purchase of Louisiana, 201; 
new departure in, 202 ; report of 
1801-1805, 204 ; debt funded, 205 ; 
full treasury in 1807, 205 ; reduction 
of debt 1791-1808, 209 ; deficiency 
reported, 210 ; war measures of Gal- 
latin, 214 ; treasury notes issued, 
214 ; eleven millions loan authorized, 
216 ; twenty-one millions loan au- 
thorized, 219 ; Gallatin withdraws 
from Treasury, 222 ; debt in 1816, 
222 ; Taney removes the deposits, 
279 ; Woodbury establishes sub- 
treasury, 282 ; debt extinguished, 
278-280. 

Finances of the United States, pam- 
phlet by Gallatin, 190. 

Financial essays, Gallatin's report of 
the Committee of Ways and Means 
of Pennsylvania Legislature, 189 ; 
sketch of the finances of the U. S., 
190 ; Views of the Public Debt, etc., 
191 ; Considerations on the Currencj 



408 



INDEX. 



andBanking System of United States, 
277 ; Suggestions on the Banks and 
Currency of the United States, 286. 

Findley, James, 45. 

Findley, William, present at Parkin- 
son's Ferry, 72 ; account of Whiskey 
Insurrection, 73. 

Fisheries, question of the, 334, 335, 
346. 

Florida, West, acquisition of, 295. 

France, revolution in, 32 ; state exe- 
cutions, 58 ; reaction of revolution 
on U. S., 59; Adet's impudence weak- 
ens U. S. attachment for, 132 ; tri- 
color presented to the U. S., 134 ; her 
services to America and situation in 
1796, policy of the French Directory, 
136 ; American flag presented to 
convention, 136 ; Directory suspend 
relations with U. S., 136 ; successes 
of Bonaparte, 136 ; Pinckney, U. S. 
minister, ordered to leave, 136 ; dis- 
puted articles of treaty with, to be 
enforced, 141 ; attitude of Directory 
misatisfactory to U. S. Republicans, 
144 ; outrages on American com- 
merce, 152 ; relations with, improve 
mider First ConsiU, 164; Gallatin's 
opinion of her diplomacy, 315 ; con- 
dition in 1815, 339 ; declines to ad- 
mit right of search, 349. 

Franklin, Benjamin, gives letter of 
introduction to Richard Bache in 
favor of yoimg Gallatin, 11. 

Free trade, Gallatin, first champion 
of, in U. S., 249 ; convention of its 
friends, 249 ; the true American sys- 
tem, 250. 

Friendship Hill, home of Gallatin, 27 ; 
neighboring scenery, 29. 

Fund, sinking, established, 182 ; Wol- 
cott's report on, 197 ; permanent 
appropriation for, 198 ; processes of, 
213 : true principle of, 215. 

Fur Company, American, charter to 
Astor, 298. 

Gallatin, Albert. Early life. Birth, 
parentage, family, death of his par- 
ents, adoption by Mile. Pictet, 1, 
2 ; early instruction, academic ed- 
ucation, 2-5 ; college companions, 4, 
5 ; engaged in tuition, 5 ; visits Vol- 
taire, 3 ; declines commission in 
Hessian service, 8 ; quarrels with his 
grandmother, 9 ; plans of emigra- 
tion, 9 ; secretly leaves Geneva with 
Serre, 10 ; arrives at Nantes on 
French coast, 10 ; invests small cap- 
ital in tea, 12 ; sails for America, 11 ; 
lands at Cape Ann, rides to Boston, 
puts up at a French caf6, 12 ; walks 



to the Blue Hills, 13 ; meets Mme. 
De Lesdernier , a compatriot, 14 ; 
voyage to Machias, life there, 15- 
17 ; commands earthwork at Passa- 
maquoddy, 16 ; meets La P^rouse, 
17 ; retiu-ns to Boston, teaches 
French in Boston, tutor at Harvard 
College, 17, 18 ; leaves Boston, passes 
through New York, arrives at Phila- 
delphia, is joined by, and dissolves 
connection with Serre, 19, 20 ; 
meets Savary, accompanies him to 
Richmond, joins him in land specu- 
lations, 19-21 ; returns to Philadel- 
phia, 22 ; conducts exploring party 
to Virginia, 22 ; makes headquar- 
ters at Clare's on George's Creek, 
Fayette County, Pa., builds log 
hut and opens a country store, 22 ; 
meets General Washington, 23 ; 
spends winter in Richmond, account 
of Virginia hospitality, 24 ; meets 
Patrick Henry, 25 ; returns on horse- 
back to Clare's, joined there by Sa- 
vary, 25 ; takes oath of allegiance 
to Virginia, 25 ; establishes residence 
in Springfield tovraship, returns to 
Richmond, 25; settles permanent- 
ly at George's Creek, is joined by 
Badollet, 27 ; purchases Friendship 
Hill, 27 ; rumor of his death reaches 
Geneva, 28 ; attains his majority of 
twenty-five years, receives draft for 
his patrimony, 28 ; offers from John 
Marshall, advice from Patrick Hen- 
ry, 29 ; visits Richmond and Phila- 
delphia, 30 ; journeys to Maine, 30 ; 
marries Sophie Allegre, 31 ; loses 
his wife, 31 ; is disheartened, 32. 

In Pennsylvania Legislature. 
Early maturity and political opin- 
ions, 33-35 ; influence on Pennsylva- 
nia convention of ratification, 37 ; 
delegate to Harrisburg conference 
of anti-Federalists, draws resolu- 
tions for, 38-40 ; delegate to Penn- 
sylvania state constitutional con- 
vention, 42 ; account of, 44 ; morbid 
melancholy and desire to leave 
America, 44 ; indifference to society, 
45 ; elected to Pennsylvania Legisla- 
ture and reelected, accoimt of his 
service, 45-47 ; report of Ways and 
Means Committee the foundation of 
his reputation, 47 ; comparison of 
New York and Pennsylvania society, 
49 ; draws Pennsylvania's resolu- 
tions against Hamilton's excise bill, 
49 ; clerk of meeting at Brownsville 
in opposition to bill, 52 ; delegate 
to meeting at Pittsburgh and secre- 
tary, 52 ; draws remonstrance to 



INDEX. 



409 



Congress, 55 ,• returns to Pennsylva- 
nia Legislature, action there, 56, 57. 

United States Senate. — Tempted 
to visit Geneva, 58 ; opinion of state 
executions in France, 58 ; elected 
senator of the United States for 
Pemisylvania, 60 ; friendship for 
Alexander J. Dallas, 60 ; joins Dal- 
las in a summer journey, meets Han- 
nah Nicholson, marries her, 61 ; as- 
sociates his brother-in-law in his 
western company, establishes glass 
works at New Geneva, 62 ; takes 
seat as senator, (j1 ; election protest- 
ed against for insufficient evidence, 
63 ; is declared to be disqualified, 
65 ; course in the Senate annoys the 
Federalists, excites lasting enmity 
of friends of Hamilton, 67, 68. 

Whiskey Insurrection. Out of 
public life, visits Fayette with his 
wife, 69 ; peace disturbed by out- 
break of Whiskey Insurrection, 70 ; 
attends meeting at Uniontown, rec- 
ommends submission to the law, 
71 ; estimate of meeting at Brad- 
dock's Field, 77 ; course during ex- 
citement, 78 ; delegate to conven- 
tion at Brownsville and secretary, 
opposes violent proceedings, one of 
committee on resolutions, 82 - 84 ; 
saves western coimtry from civil 
war, 84 ; vindicated from charges of 
John C . Hamilton, 86 ; hastens sub- 
mission of Fayette Coimty, draws 
declaration for townships, appeals 
to Governor for delay in march of 
troops, 88-90 ; misjudged by Fed- 
eral leaders, efforts to indict him 
fail, 92 ; long continuance of Fed- 
eral hatred, 93 ; relates Dallas's ex- 
perience as a trooper, 95 ; returns 
to Fayette, 96 ; reelected to Penn- 
sylvania Assembly, 96 ; elected to 
Congress, 96 ; election to Assembly 
contested, 96 ; speech on western 
elections, 97 ; his only political sin, 
97 ; election declared void, 97 ; his 
political acuteness, 98 ; reelected to 
the Assembly, 98 ; summoned be- 
fore grand jury as witness for gov- 
ernment, 99 ; draws petition to 
Washington for pardon of an offend- 
er, 99 ; loyalty to constituents, 99. 

Member of Congress. Takes seat 
in Congress m Republican opposi- 
tion, 103 ; proposes measures to con- 
trol Treasury, moves appointment 
of Committee of Finance, origin of 
Ways and Means, appointed upon 
it, 109, 110 ; insists on permanent 
footing for appropriations. 111 ; de- 



tails of his plan, 112 ; supports call 
for papers in Jay treaty, 114 ; elab- 
orate speech on constitutional ques- 
tion, 116 ; his view of congressional 
power sustained by Madison, 117 ; 
appointed to carry call to the Presi- 
dent, 118 ; acknowledged by Feder- 
alists as leading debate on Republi- 
can side, 118 ; gradually assumes 
leadership, 119 ; insists on separate 
consideration of treaties, 122 ; ob= 
jects to ratification of Jay treaty, 
declares that ' free ships make free 
goods, ' 122 : charges timidity upon 
the negotiators, sharply answered 
by Tracy, 123 ; opinion of Indians 
on frontier, 126 ; urges power to the 
President to protect American sear- 
men from impressment, 126 ; sug- 
gests plan for sale of western lands, 
126 ; attacks military and naval es- 
tablishment, 127 ; denies need of a 
navy, opposes appropriations for fri- 
gates, 127, 128 ; urges liquidation of 
indebtedness of the U. S. to U. S. 
Bank, 128 ; personally abused by 
Sedgwick, 129 ; opposes principle 
of a national debt, 130 ; correctness 
of his statements challenged by W. 
Smith, 130 ; objects to adjoiu-nment 
to call upon President on his birth- 
day, 130 ; is complained of by Wol- 
cott, 131 ; reelected to Congress, 
131 ; takes reins of the Republican 
party, 132 ; distinguishes between 
President and administration, votes 
the address, 133 ; appointed chair- 
man of House committee of confer- 
ence on state indebtedness, 133 ; 
insists on reduction of military ap- 
propriations and opposes them for 
the navy, 134; secures passage of 
bill confining Treasury expenditure, 
134 ; the main-stay of RepublicaJi 
party, 137 ; opposes debate on for- 
eign relations in critical situation of 
affairs, 138 ; proposes ultimatum to 
France, 139 ; votes with the Feder- 
alists and carries his party with 
him, 139 ; struggles to restrict ap- 
propriations and keep the frigates 
in port, 141, 142 ; details of other 
action, 142 ; dines with President, 
143 ; presents memorial from Qua- 
kers in regard to slavery, insists on 
reference to a committee, 145 ; 
views as to legal tender of foreign 
coins, 145 ; estimate of specie in 
United States, 145; opposes expul- 
sion of Lyon, 146 ; objects to politi- 
cal foreign intercourse, 147 ; an- 
nounces Republican theory of tli« 



410 



index: 



nature of the government and the 
powers of the Executive and Con- 
gress, his speech printed by the 
party, 152 ; declares critical situa- 
tion of the country and demands a 
policy of peace or war, 153 ; opposes 
authority to President to arm con- 
voys, 15-4 ; opposes suspension of 
commercial intercourse witii France, 
156 ; opposes sedition bill as uncon- 
stitutional, 157 ; retorts upon Har- 
per, 157 ; objects to declaration of 
a state of relations by legislation, 
158 ; his restriction of the Treas- 
ury Department complained of by 
Wolcott, 159 ; opposes alien and se- 
dition laws, 1G6; courage testified 
to by Jeiferson, 163 ; leads opposi- 
tion in sixth Congress, 164 ; votes 
with the Federalists to suspend 
commercial intercourse with France 
and carries his friends with him, 
165 ; singular instance of his jeal- 
ousy of interference of the Senate 
with money bill, 166 ; opposes con- 
tinuance of act suspending commer- 
cial intercourse with France, 168 ; 
his position in presidential contest, 
169 ; suffers from bargain between 
Jefferson and the Federalists, 170 ; 
devises plan of balloting in the 
House, 170 ; peculiar reasoning as 
to constitutional powers, 170 ; con- 
gressional services recapitulated, 
174; position in Republican trium- 
virate, 174. 

Secretary of the Treasury — Fund- 
ing. Fame as a financier, 176 ; Jef- 
ferson's first choice for the Treas- 
ury, 185 ; most obnoxious to Feder- 
alists, 185 ; informed by Jefferson of 
his cabinet, 185 ; his appointment 
a party necessity, premature an- 
nouncement by the newspapers, nar- 
row personal means, hesitation as to 
acceptance, 186 ; opinion of the 
post, 187 ; doubts of confirmation, 
iSS ; appointment confirmed, ar- 
rives in Washington, enters on his 
duties, 188 ; his fitness for the post, 
189 ; first connection with finances, 
189 ; his sketch of finances of the 
U. S. analyzed, 191 ; views of pub- 
lic debt, etc., analyzed, 191 ; sub- 
mits to Jefferson rough outlines of 
financial situation, 192 ; laborious 
arrangement of Treasury state- 
ments, 193 ; logical habits of 
thought, 193 ; submits in " Notes " 
to Jefferson synopsis of his plan of 
administration, views on the reduc- 
iRon of the debt, as to the interde- 



pendence of departments, 194, 195; 
insists upon accountability, 196 ; 
first report to Congress, 1801, de- 
nies surplus in the Treasury, merits 
of this controversy, 197, 198; plan 
of funding through permanent ap- 
propriation, 198 ; review of manage- 
ment of the debt, 199 ; dissatisfac- 
tion with the price at which bonds 
for Louisiana purchase were placed, 
201 ; insists that principal of the 
stock be paid m the U. S., 202 ; 
results of four years service, 204 ; 
plans of conversion, 205 ; reports a 
full treasury, financial recommenda- 
tions, 205, 206 ; describes branches 
of revenue and operation of direct 
and indirect taxes, 207 ; opposes 
embargo, draws the bill, 208 ; pro- 
visions justified, 208, 209 ; urged by 
Jefferson to remain in cabinet, his 
answer to, 210 ; announces a defi- 
ciency, 211; report of 1811 not de- 
spondent, 212 ; review of service to 
January 1, 1812, 212 ; gives a lesson 
of finance, 213 ; submits a war bud- 
get, 214 ; reports results of eleven 
millions loan, 216 ; proposes issue of 
treasury notes, 216 ; makes last an- 
nual statement, and last report to 
Commissioners of Sinking Fund, 218, 
219 ; calls for twenty-one millions, 
219 ; reports success of sixteen mil- 
lions loan, personal influence with 
Parish, Girard, and Astor, 221 ; re- 
view of his administration of the 
finances, poUcy vindicated, 222. Rev- 
enue. Connection with the reve- 
nue, 226 ; estimates of revenue and 
division into permanent and tem- 
porary, 227, 228 ; proposes addi- 
tional impost to meet expenses of 
war with Tripoli, 229 ; raises per- 
manent revenue, 231 ; recommends 
that duties be doubled in case of 
war, 233 ; reports undimmished re- 
sources, 235 ; plainly sets forth sit- 
uation to Congress, 237 ; announces 
probable deficiency, disappointed 
by refusal of Congress to renew 
charter of United States Bank, ten- 
ders resignation to Madison, 239 ; 
gives estimate of probable receipts 
from duties, recommends that they 
be doubled, 240 ; throws responsi- 
bility of internal taxation upon 
Congress, 241 ; his final report, 1812, 
243 ; close of connection with cus- 
toms system, 243; connection with 
internal taxes, 243, 244 ; his connec- 
tion with the sales of public lands, 
brings subject before Congressi in 



INDEX. 



411 



1796, opinion of their value as a na- 
tional resource and fund for pay- 
ment of the debt, his treatise on the 
subject, 245-247 ; belief in principles 
of Republican party, 248 ; earliest 
advocate of free trade, his position 
on this subject in the election of 
1832, leader of the cause, 248, 249 ; 
soul of free trade convention, drafts 
memorial, proclaims the genuine 
American system, violently attacked 
by Clay, views prevail in tariff of 
1846, 248-251. Administrntion. Ad- 
ministration of Treasury reviewed, 
251-255 ; his economy, struggles 
with War and Navy departments, 
253, 254 ; arranges with Nicholson 
for specific appropriations to be 
ordered by Congress, 254 ; care- 
ful administration of his household 
finances, 259. Banking. Review of 
operation of Bank of U. S., 261 ; sug- 
gestions as to renewal of charter, 
262 ; opinion of the bank in 1830, 
and in 1841, 264, 265; estimate of 
the banking facilities of the TJ. S. in 
1811, 267 ; negotiations with Parish, 
Girard, and Astor, 269 ; estimate 
of proceeds of loans from different 
sections of U. S., 270 ; opinion that 
continuance of the bank would have 
averted suspension in 1815, 271 ; 
opinion of service rendered by sec- 
ond bank of the U. S., 275 ; declines 
Treasury Department in 1816, 276 ; 
impresses on Madison necessity of 
return to specie payment, 276 ; de- 
clines presidency of Bank of U. S. , 
277 ; prepares a statement of rela- 
tive value of gold and silver, 277 ; 
writes for " American Quarterly Re- 
view " an essay on currency and 
banking system of the U. S., 277; 
accepts the presidency of National 
Bank of New York, 278 ; his bank 
suspends with all others in 1837, 
conducts resumption, 283-285 ; de- 
clines presidency of Bank of Com- 
merce in New York, 286 ; resigns 
presidency of National Bank, 286; 
publishes essay on banks and cur- 
rency of U. S., 286; declines the 
Treasury Department, 287, 288. 

In the Cabinet. In accord with 
RepubUcan leaders except on the 
bank question, 290 ; belief in civil 
service independent of politics, cir- 
cular disavowed by Jefferson, 291, 
292 ; proposes division of states into 
election districts, 293 ; his account 
of Jefferson's cabinet, 294 ; opinions 
deferred to on constitutional ques- 



tions, 295 ; advice to Jefferson as to 
Louisiana treaty, 296 ; arranges for 
occupation of New Orleans, 296; 
cannot be accused of favoritism, 
declines to remove officials, obtains 
places for but two friends, 297 ; con- 
tracts friendship with Chouteau of 
St. Louis, interested in the Indian 
territory, 297 ; drafts letter of pro- 
tection to Astor's schemes in north- / 
west, 298 ; opposes Jefferson's plan 
of gun-boats, 299 ; deprecates harsh 
terms in presidential message, 301 ; 
devises plan of internal improve- 
ments, 300 ; advocates coast survey, 
and recommends Hassler to Jeffer- 
son, 300 ; doubts popularity of a 
National University, 301 ; opposes 
permanent embargo, 302 ; prepares 
Campbell's report on injuries done 
to U. S. by Great Britain, recom- 
mends national defence, 303; ap- 
plies enforcement act with vigor, 
303 ; submits notes to Jefferson on 
political situation, 304 ; opposes the 
ordering out of the naval force, 304 ; 
suggests letters of marque, 305; 
financial policy opposed by Repub- 
lican faction in Senate, 306 ; tenders 
resignation to Madison, 307 ; assailed 
in " Aurora " by Duane, 308 ; ablest 
man in the administration after 
Madison, in Jefferson's opinion, 308 ; 
requests leave of absence and ap- 
pointment on mission to Russia, 311 ; 
lasting reverence for Jefferson, com- 
tinued friendship for Madison, 310, 
311. 

In Diplomacy — Treaty of Ghent. 
SaUs for Europe with Bayard, 312 ; 
arrives at Gotha, visits Gottenbiurg, 
arrives at Copenhagen, memoranda 
of voyage, 312 ; reaches St. Peters- 
burg, meets Adams, 313 ; compared 
with Adams, 313 ; character and 
purposes, 314 ; opinion of English 
and French diplomacy, 315 ; writes 
to Barings, 317 ; receives reply 
from Alexander Baring, 317, 318 ; 
communicates with Romanzoff, ad- 
dresses an official note to Emperor 
Alexander, 319 ; asks intervention of 
Moreau, 319 ; asks instructions from 
Monroe, 320 ; replies to Baring, 320 ; 
learns that his confirmation has been 
refused by Senate, 320 ; contem- 
plates visit to London, 322; hears 
that British government propose to 
treat directly with America, 323; 
leaves St. Petersburg, arrives at Am- 
sterdam, 324 ; hears of new commis- 
sion in which he is not included, 324 ; 



412 



INDEX. 



arrives at London, 324 ; urges Lafay- 
ette's intervention, 325 ; proposes 
change of place of negotiation, asks 
authority of Monroe for change, 325, 
326 ; urges Crawford to secure inter- 
position of Emperor Alexander, 326 ; 
receives letter from Lafayette prom- 
ising aid, 327 ; visited by Baron von 
Humboldt, 327 ; warns Monroe of 
war preparations in England, 327 ; 
leaves London for Ghent, 328 ; de- 
tects purposes of English cabinet, 
advises Monroe, 329, 330 ; consid- 
ers negotiations at an end, 330 ; 
draws reply of American commis- 
sioners to propositions of British 
commissioners, 331 ; opinion of 
burning of Washington expressed to 
Madame de Stael, 331 ; confidence 
in American securities, 332 ; over- 
match for Lord Bathurst, 333 ; diffi- 
culty in maintaining harmony be- 
tween Adams and Clay, 334 ; treaty 
of Ghent his special work, 335 ; his 
diplomatic skill, 336; his reputa- 
tion in Europe, 337 ; visits Geneva 
and receives honors, 338 ; returns 
by way of Paris, 338 ; hears of his 
appointment as minister to France, 
338 ; with Clay opens negotiations at 
London with Castlereagh, arranges 
commercial treaty, 338 ; leaves Lon- 
don, arrives at New York, 339; 
letter to Jefferson on condition 
of France, 339; declines nomina- 
tion to Congress, French mission, 
and Treasury Department, accepts 
French mission, 340-342. Minister 
to France. Arrives at Paris, inter- 
view with Richelieu, 343 ; audience 
by the King, familiarly received at 
court, 344; negotiates for indem- 
nity, 345 ; at London, advises 
Adams as to commercial treaty 
with Great Britain, at the Hague 
with Eustis negotiates treaty with 
Holland, 345, 346 ; returns to Paris, 
346 ; with Rush conducts negoti- 
ations with Great Britain, 346, 
347 ; declines taking part with 
France in mediation between Spain 
and her colonies, 348 ; informs 
Adams of state of European opin- 
ion, 348; points out disadvantage 
of war with Spain, 349 ; disturbed 
by seizure on St. Mary's river of 
a French vessel, difference with 
Adams as to doctrine assumed by 
U. S., 350 ; described in Adams's 
diary, 351 ; his opinion of Adams, 
351 ; renews negotiations with 
French ministry, 349-352 ; proposes 



return to America, 352; continues 
negotiations, 353 ; receives leave of 
absence, 353 ; sails from Havre, ar- 
rives at New York, 353 ; visits 
Washington, settles at Friendship 
Hill, urged to return to Paris, de- 
clines, 354 ; declines to represent 
U. S. at Congress of American Re- 
publics at Panama, 354. Minister 
to England. Appointed envoy ex- 
traordinary to England, appointed 
minister with power, 355 ; disap- 
pointed in instructions, 355 ; sails 
from New York, reaches London, 
356 ; dislike of French and English 
diplomacy, 357 ; negotiates with 
Canning, 358 ; words quoted by 
Chateaubriand, 358 ; warned by 
Adams of disposition of Great Brit- 
ain, 359 ; concludes negotiations 
with Lord Goderich, 360 ; returns 
to United States, congratulated by 
Adams, 360 ; courtesies extended to 
him at London, 361 ; prepares argu- 
ment to be laid before King of 
Netherlands on boundary, 362 ; pub- 
lishes statement of facts, 362; 
visited by Lord Ashburton, 363 ; 
compared with Lord Ashburton, 
363 ; publishes pamphlet on Oregon 
question, 363 ; presides at meeting 
of protest against annexation of 
Texas, 364 ; condemns war with 
Mexico, publishes pamphlets con- 
cerning it, 364 ; disbelieves in mani- 
fest destiny, condemns idea of sin- 
gle rule over American continent, 
365 ; dies at threshold of golden age, 
367. 

Candidate for the Vice-Presidency. 
Opinion of Republican contempo- 
raries, 368, 369 ; prefers Crawford 
for president, 370 ; nominated for 
vice-president in Republican cau- 
cus, 371 ; accepts nomination, 371 ; 
withdraws from ticket, 371 ; con- 
siders Republican party "defunct," 
372 ; opinion of the presidency, 373 ; 
visits Washington, notices changes, 
373. 

Society, Literature, Science. 
Land speculations unprofitable, 374 ; 
forms plan of Swiss colonization, 
374 ; pecuniary losses, 375 ; locates 
land in Ohio, 375 ; value of his es- 
tate, 375 ; early embarrassment in 
society, 376 ; house in Washington 
burned by the British, 377 ; house 
at Friendship Hill described, 377; 
entertains Lafayette at Friendship 
Hill, 377 ; passes winter at New 
Geneva, 378 , settles in New York, 



INDEX. 



413 



S78 ; devotes himself to science, 379 ; 
presides over National Bank, 379 ; 
chosen member of "the Club" 379- 
381 ; described by Washington Ir- 
ving, 381 ; attempts to establish Na- 
tional University in New York, 
president of the first council, reasons 
for vdthdrawal, 381-383 ; interest in 
French politics, 384 ; congratulated 
by Lafayette on marriage of his 
daughter, 385 ; interested in Polish 
emigrants, chairman of Polish com- 
mittee, 385, 386 ; interest in In- 
dian languages and customs, 387 ; 
commimicates to Von Humboldt a 
synopsis of Indian tribes, 388 ; ob- 
tains vocabularies of southern Indi- 
ans, urges War Department to cir- 
culate these through its posts, 388 ; 
example of letters addressed to indi- 
viduals, 388, 389 ; original synopsis 
published, 390 ; result of his inves- 
tigations, 391 ; advice asked as to 
employment of Smithsonian trust, 
391 ; and as to its publications, 392 ; 
founds American Ethnological Soci- 
ety, 392, 393 ; its publications and 
his contributions to them, 393 ; 
gathers information as to produc- 
tion of gold in U. S. for Von Hum- 
boldt, 394 ; opinion of his own pow- 
ers, his reasons for his success, his 
minute labor, 395 ; favors attempt 
to establish literary periodical in 
New York, 396 ; chosen president of 
N. Y. Historical Society, 396 ; in- 
augural address, 396 ; the " Anti- 
quary " his favorite novel, 396 ; his 
opinion of Washington, is eulogized 
by J. Q. Adams, 398 ; their political 
careers contrasted, 399 ; personal 
appearance and portraits, 398, 399 ; 
death of his friends, of his wife, 
399 ; removed to Astoria, 400 ; death 
and funeral, 401 ; eulogized by Lu- 
ther Bradish, 401 ; acknowledges 
his indebtedness to Bentham, 402 ; 
his head pronounced capital by 
Spurzheim, 402 ; praised by Du- 
mont, 402 ; his moral excellence, a 
citizen of the world, 403. 

Gallatin, Abraham, grandfather of Al- 
bert, in trade, 2 ; lives at Pregny, 
7 ; dies, 58. 

Gallatin, Albert, Mrs., presides at the 
drawing room, 377. 

Gallatin, Frances, married to Byam 
Kerby Stevens, 384. 

Gallatin, James, secretary to mission, 
312. 

Gallatin, Jean, father of Albert, in 
trade, dies, 2. 



Gallatin, P. M., gfuardian of Albert, 
11 ; reproaches him for his depart- 
ure, 11 ; obtains letters for him to 
distinguished Americans, 11. 

Gallatin, Sophie Albertine RoUaz, wife 
of Jean and mother of Albert Gal- 
latin, her death, 2. 

Gallatin, Madame, Vaudenet, wife of 
Abraham and mother of Albert, 5 ; 
friend of Voltaire and of Landgrave 
of Hesse-Cassel, 5 ; controlling spirit 
of the family, 8 ; quarrels with Al- 
bert, 9. 

Gallatin family, influence in Swiss Re- 
public, 2 ; in military service, 8 ; 
claim Roman descent, 399. 

Gambler, Lord, British commissioner 
to Ghent, 328. 

Genet, French minister, intemperance 
of, 59 ; marries daughter of George 
Clinton, 105 ; aids democratic socie- 
ties, 105 ; held up to condemnation, 
138. 

Geneva, resort of foreigners, 4 ; so- 
ciety in, 4 ; Kinloch, Smith, Lau- 
rens, PennS,- Bache, Johannot are 
educated at, 4 ; political state of, 
10 ; form of government, 34. 

Geneva Academy, Gallatin attends, 2 ; 
course of study at, 3 ; influence on 
society, 4 ; Serre, BadoUet, Dumont, 
De Lolme, Pictet educated at, 5. 

Geneva, New, Gallatin's log hut the 
beginning of, 78. 

Gerry, Elbrid^, envoy to France, 
144. 

Ghent, treaty of, 312; signed, 335; 
the triumph of Gallatin, 335. 

Giles, William B., M. C, Virginia, 
leads Republican debate, 103 ; op- 
poses address to Washington, 132, 
133 ; leads opposition in fifth Con- 
gress, 137 ; jealousy of Gallatin, 145. 

Girard, Stephen, 221. 

Gold, effect of discovery in California, 
366. 

Goodrich, Chauncy, M. C, Connecti- 
cut, Federalist, 102 ; on diplomatic 
mtercourse, 148. 

Goulburn, Henry, British commis- 
sioner to Ghent, 328 ; protests 
against concessions to U. S. , 332. 

Great Britain, Jay's treaty with, 106 ; 
debate upon, 113 ; appropriations for, 
125 ; declared objectionable, 125. 

Greensburg, on the Monongahela, 28. 

Grenville, Lord, duped by Jay, 121 ; 
his proposition to Pinckney, 138; 
spirit of his negotiations with Jay, 
362. 

Griswold, Roger, of Connecticut, Fed- 
eral leader, 102 ; argument oa 



414 



INDEX. 



treaty-making power, 116 ; retains 
influence in fifth Congress, 137 ; 
collision with Lyon, 145 ; speech ou 
constitutional checks, 148 ; defends 
Senate bill on Treasury reports, 
166. 
Gun-boats, Jefferson's scheme of, 299 ; 
in Lafayette's expedition, 299. 

Hamilton, Alexander, secretary of 
treasury, compared with Gallatin, 
29 ; his early maturity, 33 ; excise 
bill, 50 ; indignation at opposition, 
55 ; appeal to the people, " TuUy," 
89 ; charged with attempt to indict 
Gallatin, 92 ; accompanies troops, 
93 ; resigns Treasury, 100 ; advises 
the Federalists, 102 ; rupture with 
Jefferson, 103 ; stoned in New York 
for supporting Jay treaty, 106; 
general, 160 ; formulates central 
power, 174 ; appointed to Treasury, 
180 ; report on public credit, 180 ; 
funding bill, 180 ; excise law, 181 ; 
resignation, 183 ; breach with 
Adams, 183 ; policy questioned, 185 ; 
GaUatin offends, 185 ; his funding 
method criticised, 191 ; his revenue 
systems, 226, 243 ; report on sale of 
public lands, 246 ; his establish- 
ments organic, 289. 

Hamilton, John C, accusation of Gal- 
latin, 86. 

Harper, Robert Goodloe, of South Car- 
olina, Federal leader, 101 ; argu- 
ment on treaty-making power, 118 ; 
leads Federalists in fifth Congress, 
137 ; debate on the address, 138 ; 
opposes Kittera's amendment, 
139; votes with Republicans, 139; 
chairman of Ways and Means, 144 ; 
Gallatin's opinion of, 144 ; leads busi- 
ness of the House, 146 ; debate on 
foreign ministers, 151 ; introduces 
bill to suspend relations with France, 
156 ; hot words with Gallatin over 
Alien Bill, 157 ; defends Senate bill 
on Treasury reports, 166. 

Harrisburg, conference of Anti-Feder- 
alists, 38, 39 ; Gallatin represents 
Fayette Comity in, 39 ; draws reso- 
lutions for, 39, 40 ; report of, pub- 
lished, 41. 

Henry, Patrick, governor, commis- 
sions Gallatin to locate lands, 25; 
predicts his future, 30. 

Hesse-Cassel, Frederick, Landgrave 
of, sends his portrait to Mme. Gal- 
latin Vaudenet, 7. 

Hillhouse, M. C, Connecticut, Fed- 
eralist, 102 ; on Ways and Means 
Committee, 108. 



Historical Society, New York, Galla- 
tin president of, 396 ; his inaugural 
address, 397 ; commemoration meet- 
ing, 398 ; proceedings on Gallatin's 
death, 401 . 

Humboldt, Baron von, study of pro- 
duction in precious metals, 287 ; 
Prussian minister at Paris, 327 ; vis- 
its Gallatin in London, 327 ; compli- 
ments Gallatin, 337 . 

Husbands, Herman, 83. 

Huskisson, British minister, on im- 
pressment, 360. 

Impressment of seamen, ignored in 
Jay treaty, 106; power concerning 
to be lodged in the Executive, 126 ; 
cause of war, 316 ; question at Ghent, 
316, 334 ; in 1818, 346 ; Huskisson's 
condemnation of, 360. 

Indians, trading houses, appropriation 
for, opposed by Gallatin, 111 ; 
Wayne's treaty with, 121 ; in Maine 
and on the Ohio, 386 ; tribes classi- 
fied by Jefferson, 387 ; synopsis of 
tribes prepared by Gallatin, 388 ; 
gathering at Washington, 388 ; vo- 
cabularies collected by Smithsonian, 
389 ; Du Ponceau's Grammar of Lan- 
guages, 390 ; publication of Gallatin's 
S5Tiopsis, 391 ; his introduction to 
Hale's work on, 394. 

Indian question at Ghent, 331, 332. 

Internal improvements, Jefferson's 
policy on, 290 ; Gallatin's plan, 300. 

Invisibles, the, 304. 

Irving, Washington, describes Mrs. 
Gallatin, 377 ; on Gallatin's conver- 
sation, 381. 

Jackson, Andrew, M. C, Tennessee, 
Republican, takes his seat, 133 ; 
votes against address to Washing- 
ton, 133 ; described by Gallatin, 133 ; 
appoints Taney to supreme court, 
279 ; Gallatin's opinion of, 368 ; his 
idea of party, 372 ; a pugnacious an- 
imal, 373 ; in the White House, 373. 

Jay, John, hung in eflBgy, 106 ; his ad- 
vice to Randolph, 120, 121 ; opinion 
of, in England, 121 ; spirit of his 
negotiations with GrenvUle, 362. 

Jay treaty made public by Senator 
Mason, 106 ; popular dissatisfaction 
with, 106; debate upon, 113; ap- 
propriations for, 125 ; declared ob- 
jectionable by the House, 125 ; how 
considered in England, 121 ; conse- 
quences of its incompleteness, 316. 

Jefferson, Thomas, first hears of Gal- 
latin, 22 ; awaits disruption of Fed- 
eral party, 102 ; rupture with Ham> 



INDEX. 



415 



ilton, 103 ; imbued with principles 
of French revolution, 105 , ridiculed 
as a sans-culotte, 107 ; Wolcott 
complains of his influence, 131 ; ad- 
vises Republicans to moderate their 
bitterness against Washington, 132 ; 
waning spirit of Republican oppo- 
sition, 137 ; complains of wavering 
of Congress, 142 ; powerless in the 
Senate as vice-president, 143 ; loses 
taste for a French alliance, 144 ; a 
French missionary, 151 ; in the tri- 
umvirate, 174 ; represents spirit of 
liberty, 174 ; mission of his adminis- 
tration, 194 ; not a practical states- 
man, 195 ; his cabinet, 195 ; opposed 
bank of U. S., 259 ; plans of paper 
money, 373 ; his principles of ad- 
ministration, 289 ; policy restric- 
tive, 289 ; at issue with Gallatin on 
bank question, 289 ; opposes Gallsu 
tin's civil service circular, 292 ; 
want of system in cabinet, 294 ; 
alienates Burr, 294 ; views as to ac- 
quisition of territory, 295 ; intimacy 
with Duane, 296 ; correspondence 
with Astor as to fur company, 298 ; 
gun-boat scheme, 299 ; constitu- 
tional scruples, 301 ; indecision as 
to measures, 302 ; withdraws from 
the triumvirate, 302 ; opinion of and 
attachment to Gallatin, 308 ; affec- 
tion for him, 311 ; rejoices on Galla- 
tin's appointment to Paris, 342 ; his 
opinion of Louis XVIII., 343 ; trans- 
lates Tracy's Political Economy, 
343. 

Johannot, grandson of Dr. Cooper, 
educated at Geneva, 4. 

Jones, William, secretary of navy, 
acting secretary of treasury, 324. 

Kemp, Van der, commissioner for the 
Netherlands, 346. 

King, Rufus, minister to England, 
355 ; resigns, 355 ; tone of his diplo- 
matic correspondence, 357. 

Kin loch, Francis, M. C, South Caro- 
lina, educated at Geneva, 4 ; Gal- 
latin receives a letter of introduc- 
tion for, 11. 

Kramer brothers, glass-works at New 
Geneva, 62. 

Lafayette, represents true republican 
spirit, 105 ; prisoner in Austria, 
106 ; expedition against Arnold, 
299 ; has interview with Alexander, 
326; welcomed by Gallatin, 378; 
congratulations to, on marriage of 
his daughter, 384 ; describes the rev- 
olution of 1830, 384. 



Lands, public, offices for sale of, 126 ; 
value in 1792, 126 ; Hamilton's re- 
port, 245 ; sales under Adams, 246; 
Jefferson, 247 ; Gallatin's adminis- 
tration of, 247 ; his treatise on, 248. 

Laurens, Colonel, educated at Gen- 
eva, 4. 

Lawrence, William Beach, anecdote 
of Washington and Gallatin, 23 ; 
Secretary to Gallatin, 356, charge 
d'affaires, 357 ; presides at dinner 
of New York Historical Society, 
398. 

Leopard, man-of-war, captures the 
Chesapeake, 232. 

Lesdernier, a Genevan, resident of 
Machias, 14 ; his log cabin the home 
of Gallatin, 15. 

Lieven, Count, Russian minister at 
London, 320. 

Lieven, Countess of, autocrat of Lon- 
don foreign society, 361. 

Lincoln, Levi, attorney-general, opin- 
ion on acquisition of territory, 295» 

Literary periodical. New York, pro- 
posed by Gallatin, 396. 

Liverpool, Lord, accepts settlement of 
Indian question, 332 ; acknowledges 
his defeat, 334. 

Livingston, Edward, M. C, New York, 
Republican leader, 103 ; calls for 
instructions to Jay, 113 ; appointed 
to wait on President with call for 
papers, 118 ; votes against address 
to Washington, 133; denounces 
course of the administration, 140 ; 
votes against the answer to ad- 
dress, 141. 

Louis XVIII., Jefferson's opinion of, 

343 ; gives audience to Gallatin, 

344 ; his courteous malice, 344. 

Louisiana purchase, 199, 201, 203. 

Louisiana, East, acquisition of, 295. 

Lyon, Matthew, M. C, Vermont, col- 
lision with Griswold, 146. 

Machias, trade of, 15 ; life at, in 1780, 
16. 

Macon, Nathaniel, M C, Georgia, Re- 
publican, votes against approbation 
of Washington, 133 ; against sus- 
pending intercourse with France, 
165 ; declines to enter caucus, 369 ; 
his uncompromising spirit, 369. 

Madison, James, leads Republican op- 
position, 103 ; mildness in third 
Congress, 105 ; drafts and amends 
address to President, 108, 109 ; sup. 
ports bill for establishing trading 
houses with Indians, 111 ; on treaty 
making power, 114, 117 ; leads de- 
bate on right of the House to call 



416 



INDEX. 



for papers, 119 ; Wolcott complains 
of his influence, 131 ; the finest rea- 
soning power in Congress, 132 ; in 
the trimnvirate, 174 ; his financial 
ignorance, 185 ; in accord with Gal- 
latin on strict appropriations, 254; 
vetoes bill for U. S. Bank, 274 ; op- 
poses Gallatin's civil service circu- 
lar, 292 ; refuses aid to Astoria es- 
tablishment, 298 ; his weakness, 
305 ; inexcusable course to Gallatin, 
307 ; compelled by Gallatin to a 
choice between himself and Smith, 
307 ; his administration hmnbled, 
329 ; offers Treasury to Gallatin, 
341. 

Manifest destiny, 365. 

Marque, letters of, 305. 

Marshall, James, leader in Whiskey In- 
surrection, 51 ; represents Washing- 
ton County in Pennsylvania Legisla- 
ture, 54 ; draws remonstrance to 
Congress, 54; attends meeting of 
Washington malcontents, 71 ; virges 
violence, 72 ; countermands rendez- 
vous, 72 ; delegate to Parkinson's 
Ferry convention, 81 ; withdraws 
violent resolution, 82. 

Marshall, John, offers place in his law 
office to Gallatin, 29; envoy to 
France, 144; M. C. from Virginia, 
163; announces death of Washing- 
ton to the House, 164. 

McClanachan, Blair, chairman of 
Pennsylvania ratification conven- 
tion, 39; violent words at Presi- 
dent's table, 143. 

McKean, Thomas, Chief Justice of 
Pennsylvania, suggests sending com- 
missioners to rioters, 79. 

McLane, Louis, secretary of treasury, 
reports virtual extinguishment of 
U. S. debt, 278. 

Mediterranean Fund, 230, 238. 

Mexico, war with, condemned by Gal- 
latin, 364 ; peace with, advocated 
by, 364 ; signed, 365. 

Mifflin, Thomas, governor, 79, 90, 91. 

Milton, Blue Hills of, visited by Galla^ 
tin, 13. 

Mississippi, navigation question, 334, 
335, 347. 

Monroe, James, minister to France, 
presents American flag to French 
convention, 136 ; appointed secre- 
tary of state, 308 ; instructions to 
envoys, 316 ; president of the U. S. , 
346. 

Montgomery, John, of Maryland, mar- 
ries Maria Nicholson, 62. 

Ilontmorency, Vicomte de, miaister 

, oi foreign affairs, 352. 



Moreau, General, offers assistance t« 
envoys, 319 ; his death, 321, 322. 

Morris, Gouverneur, 33, 178. 

Morris, Robert, U. S. senator for 
Pennsylvania, 63 ; the financier of 
the Revolution, 177 ; called to the 
Treasury, 177 ; administration of, 
178 ; retirement of, 179. 

Muhlenberg, Frederick A., speaker of 
the House, 101. 

Mmgo Creek Meeting House, anti-ex- 
cise meeting at, 71. 

Murray, William Vans, M. C, Mary- 
land, Federalist, 102 ; on the Jay 
treaty, 114. 

National Bank of New York organ- 
ized, 278 ; Gallatin president of, 
278 ; suspends, 282 ; Gallatin resigns, 
286. 

Navy, opposed by Gallatin as needless, 
127-129 ; prejudicial to committee, 
134. 

Neuville, Hyde de, minister to U. S., 
346, 354. 

Netherlands, King of, arbiter on the 
northeastern boimdary, 362 ; treaty 
with, 345. 

New Orleans, battle of, 337. 

New York, life at, in 1782, 19. 

Nicholson, Hannah, makes excursion 
with Gallatin, 61 ; family, 61 ; mar- 
ried to Gallatin, 61. 

Nicholson, James, commodore, fam- 
ily of, 61 ; Republican leader in New 
York, 61 ; entertains Gallatin, 62. 

Nicholson, James Witter, associated 
with Gallatin in western company, 
62 ; removes to Fayette, 62 ; glass- 
works of, at New Geneva, 62. 

Nicholas, John, M. C, from Virginia, 
Republican leader, 103, 140 ; votes 
against Kittera's amendment, 140; 
speech on the power of the Execu- 
tive, 146 ; would decline diplomatic 
relations, 147 ; declares Republican 
purposes, 149 ; Gallatin's lieuten- 
ant, 164 ; votes against suspending 
intercourse with France, 165 ; op- 
poses Senate bill on Treasury re- 
ports, 106. 

Non-importation act of 1774, a failure, 
303 ; enforced by GaUatin, 303. 

Ohio Company, account of association, 
21. 

Orders in Council, 208, 233. 

Oregon Territory, joint occupancy 
agreement, renewed, 359. 

Otis, Harrison Gray, M. C, Massachu- 
setts, Federalist, 137 ; denounces 
Livingston's speech, 140. 



INDEX. 



417 



Panama Congress of American Repub- 
lics, Gallatin declines mission to, 
354. 

Parish, David, 221. 

Parker, Josiah, M. C, Virginia, resolu- 
tion of, 161 ; on French intercourse, 
166. 

Parkinson's Ferry, militia ordered to 
rendezvous at, 72 ; convention as- 
sembles at, 80 ; meeting at, described 
by Breckenridge, 82 ; proceedings 
at, 82, 91. 

Pasquier, French minister, 350. 

Pendleton Society, Virginia, secession 
resolutions of, 120. 

Penn, Lady Juliana, gives letter of in- 
troduction to John Penn in favor of 
young Gallatin, 11. 

Penns, proprietors of Pennsylvania, 
educated at Geneva, 4, 

Pennsylvania society compared with 
that of New York, 49. 

Pennsylvania state constitutional con- 
vention of 1789, 42, 43 ; opposes call, 
42 ; represents Fayette Coimty in, 
42 ; memoranda of service in, 43 ; 
accoimt of, 44. 

Pennsylvania Assembly, Gallatin rep- 
resents Fayette in, 45, 46 ; account 
of service in, 46 ; draws resolution 
for abolition of slavery, 48 ; opposes 
Excise Bill in, 50 ; proposes county 
taxation and school system, 57. 

Pensacola occupied by Jackson, 348. 

P^rouse, La, the navigator, visits Ma- 
chias, 17. 

Perry, Gallatin settles Frost's meadow 
in, 15. 

Philadelphia, seat of government 
moved to, 48 ; state of society in 
1790, 49. 

Pickering, Timothy, secretary of war, 
100. 

Pictet, Mademoiselle, relative of Gal- 
latin, 2 ; takes charge of Albert, 2 ; 
her nephew taught by him, 5 ; Al- 
bert's attachment for, 9 ; her grief 
at his departure, 11 ; sends him let- 
ters of introduction, 11 ; sends him 
funds, 18 ; his only link with his 
family, 20 ; reproaches him for in- 
dolence, 45. 

Pictet, the naturalist, educated at 
Geneva, 5. 

Pinckney, Charles C, minister to 
France, 136, 144. 

Pittsburgh in 1790, 51 ; anti-excise 
meeting at, 52 ; alarm at, 72. 

Polish committee in aid of emigrants, 
386. 

Porcupine, Peter. See William Cob- 
bett. 

27 



Pregny, on lake of Geneva, residence 
of Gallatin's grandparents, 7. 

Randolph, Edmund, secretary of state, 
79, 100, 107. 

Randolph, John, M. C, Virginia, 163 ; 
Republican, votes against suspend- 
ing intercourse with France, 165 
opposes medal to Truxton, 165 
report on revenue, 228 ; complains 
of want of system in Jefferson's 
cabinet, 294 : Gallatin's opinion of, 
368. 

Red Stone Old Fort. See Brownsville. 

Report of Committee of Ways and 
Means, Pennsylvania Legislature, 
drawn by Gallatin, 47. 

Report on Finances, Gallatin's, for 
Ways and Means Committee of Penn- 
sylvania Legislature, 189 ; to Con- 
gress, 1801, 198, 226; 1805, 204; 

1807, 206; 1808, 208; 1809, 211; 
1811, 212. 

Republican party, in majority in fourth 
Congress but overawed by influence 
of Washington, 102 ; maintains new 
democratic doctrines of French 
Revolution, 104 ; carries resolutions 
calling for instructions to Jay, 118 ; 
bitterness against Washington re- 
buked by Jefferson, 132 ; recognizes 
need of provision for war with 
France, 137 ; compelled to maintain 
national honor, 137 ; purpose to re- 
strict executive power, 149 ; classi- 
fied by Harper, 151 ; controls New 
York and Southern States, 169; 
saved by Gallatin, loses its chief in 
Gallatin, 175, 174 ; breach in, 183 ; 
cardinal points of policy, 186 ; its 
principles abandoned, 242 ; opposes 
Bank of United States, 256, 263; 
first opposition party, 290 ; opposes 
politics in patronage, 290 ; but do 
not carry out this policy, 291 ; 
divided by alienation of Burr, 292 ; 
last congressional caucus of, 370; 
extinguished by battle of New Or- 
leans, 371 ; Gallatin considers de- 
funct, 372. 

Revenue, attributes of, 224 ; Edmund 
Burke on, 226 ; sources of, 226 ; for 
1801, 227 ; permanent, 227 ; Ran- 
dolph's report on, 228 ; Gallatin's 
report for 1805, 231 ; for 1807, 232 ; 
treasury blockaded from, 233 ; in 

1808, 234; in 1809, 235; estimate 
for 1812, 240 ; doubled, 242 ; tariff 
of 1846, 251. 

Revenue, internal, Hamilton's scheme 
of, 243 ; abandoned by Republicans, 
244 ; Dallas upon, 244 ; restored by 



418 



INDEX. 



Gallatin, 245; enforced by Dallas, 
245. 

Richelieu, Duke of, minister of Louis 
XVIII., interview witli Gallatin, 
343 ; indemnity to U. S., 344. 

Riclimond, society in 1785, 24. 

Rochefoucauld, d'Enville, Duke of, 
his intervention solicited on behalf 
of GaUatin, 11. 

Romanzoff, Coimt, author of media- 
tion offer, 316 ; his purpose, 316 ; 
dispatch to Count Lieven, 320 ; gives 
letter to Dallas, 322. 

Rutledge, John, Jr., M. C, South Car- 
olina, 137. 

Rush, Richard, minister to England, 
346. 

Russell, Jonathan, peace commis- 
sioner to Ghent, 324. 

Russia friendly to America, 333 ; de- 
clines to submit to search of vessels, 
349; displeased with U. S. recog- 
nition of independence of Spanish 
colonies, 349. 

Savaby, de Valcoulon, of Lyons, has 
claims against Virginia, 19 ; visits 
Philadelphia and Richmond with 
Gallatin, 19, 20 ; speculations in 
land, 22; establishes residence at 
Clare's, 25. 

Scientific society at Washington, 397. 

Search, right of, 141, 334 ; abandoned, 
347. 

Sedgwick, Theodore, M. C, of Massa- 
chusetts, Federal leader, 102 ; on 
committee to report address, 108 ; 
on Committee on Finance, 108 ; 
speaker of House, 163. 

Sedition Law, 157, 168, 169. 

Senate, U. Sw, Gallatin elected to, 60 ; 
committee on his qualification, 63 ; 
his exclusion from, 64 ; his course 
in, 66 ; Committee on the Treasury, 
66 ; Gallatin offends Hamilton's 
friends in, 68. 

Seney, Joshua, of Maryland, marries 
Frances Nicholson, 62. 

Serre, Henri, college companion of 
Gallatin, 4; leaves with him for 
America, 10 ; sails from L'Orient, 
11 ; arrives at Cape Ann, 12 ; at 
Machias, 14 ; teaches at Boston, 19 ; 
dissolves partnership with Gallatin 
at Philadelphia, 20 ; dies at Jamai- 
ca, 20. 

Sewall, Samuel, M. C, Massachusetts, 
Federalist, 137. 

Sitgreaves, Samuel, M. C, Pennsylva- 
nia, Federalist, 102, 108. 

Bismondi, essay on commercial wealth, 
287 ; praises Gallatin, 337. 



Slave trade, 335, 349. 

Smilie, John, represents Fayette in 
Pennsylvania ratification conven- 
tion, 37 ; member of Pennsylvania 
Legislature, of Congress, U. S. sena- 
tor, 39 ; friendsliip for Gallatin, 39 ; 
State senator, 45 ; at distillers' meet- 
ing, Uniontown, 71. 

Smith, John Augustine, 379. 

Smith, Robert, secretary of state, 
supported by the Invisibles, 305 ; 
leaves the cabinet, 308. 

Smith, Samuel, Gen., M. C, 167, 170. 

Smith, William, M. C, South Caro- 
lina, FederaUst, 4, 102, 130. 

Smithsonian Institution, 391, 397. " 

Spain, Pinckney's treaty with, 121 ; 
relations with, 347. 

Specie in United States, 1797, 145 ; 
a foreign product, 269. 

Spurzheim, on Gallatin's head, 402. 

Stael, Madame de, corresponds with 
Gallatin, 331 ; interview of Alex- 
ander and Lafayette at her house, 
326 ; expresses her admiration to 
GaUatin, 337. 

Stevens, Byam Kerby, marries Fran- 
ces Gallatin, 384. 

St. Mark, Fort, captured by Jackson, 
348. 

Swiss colonization, plans of, 374. 

Talleyrand, French minister, 154, 
158. 

Taney, Roger B., secretary of treas- 
ury, removes deposits, 279. 

Taxes, direct, favored by Gallatin, 127. 

Texas, annexation, 296, 364. 

Tracy, Destutt de. Economic Poli- 
tique translated by Jefferson, 343. 

Tracy, Uriah, M. C, Connecticut, 
Federal leader, 102 ; personal abuse 
of Gallatin, 123. 

Treasury, Board of, of the Revolution, 
178 ; new board, 179, 180. 

Treasury Department, Hamilton's ad- 
ministration of attacked by Galla- 
tin, 66 ; resigned by Hamilton, 100 ; 
taken by Wolcott, 100 ; control over 
by the House established, 109 ; its 
condition in 1796, 129 ; its disburse- 
ment of appropriations attacked, 
134 ; its management controlled, 
161 ; Senate Bill ordering reports of, 
opposed, 166 ; established, 180 ; ex- 
amination of, 183 ; review of, 251 ; 
Sherman's report on, in 1879, 255 ; 
conducted on business principles, 
289; requires business capacity, 
291. 

Tripoli, tribute to, 294. 

Triumvirate, traditions of, 305 ; JefEer- 



INDEX. 



419 



son withdraws from, 308 ; Gallatin's 
loyalty to, 309 ; dissolved, 310. 
Truxton, Captain, medal voted to, 
165. 

Uniontown, comity seat of Fayette, 
28 ; meeting of distillers at, 71. 

United States, frigate, 128. 

University, national, plan of D'Yver- 
nois, 301 ; proposed by Gallatin at 
New York, 381 ; result of, 383 ; Gal- 
latin withdraws, 383. 

Van Buren, Martin, manages Repub- 
lican caucus, 370. 

Vaudenet, Susanne, wife of Abraham 
Gallatin. See Gallatin, Vaudenet. 

Voltaire, his retreat at Ferney, 7 ; 
friend of Gallatin family, 7 ; writes 
verses for Madame Gallatin, 7 ; 
visited by young Gallatin, 8. 

Washington, seat of government, 167 ; 
society in 1829, 373; burning of, 
331. 

Washinjtton, Pennsylvania, anti-excise 
meeting at, 52 ; violent resolutions 
of, 52 ; meeting of moderate men 
of, 72. 

Washington, George, General, anec- 
dote of and Gallatin, 22, 23 ; procla- 
mation to whiskey insurgents, 79; 
Randolph's tribute to, 79; ap- 
points commissioners, 79 ; makes 
requisitions for troops, 80 ; calls out 
troops, 90 ; accompanies army, 91 ; 
declines to coimtermand march, 
91 ; pardons offenders, 99 ; changes 
in his cabinet, 100; his influence, 
102, 104 ; convenes Congress on Jay 
treaty, 104 ; accused as a defaulter, 
107 ; addresses Congress, 107 ; re- 
fuses to send Jay's instructions to 
the House, 118 ; his birthday the 
occasion of a visit from the House, 
130 ; sends tricolor to Congress, 
131 ; issues his farewell address, 
132 ; lieutenant-general, 160 ; death 
announced to Congress, 164 ; Galla- 
tin's tribute to, 397. 

Wayne, Anthony, General, treaty with 
Indians, 121. 

Ways and Means. See Finance Com- 
mittee. 

Ways and Means Committee, Harper 
chairman of, 144. 

Ways and Means, Randolph's report, 
228. See Finance Committee. 

Wellington, Lord, requested to go to 
America, 332; his frank opinion, 
331 ■, friendly dispositions, 347. 



West Indies trade, question of still ir- 
ritating, 337 ; referred to the Presi- 
dent, 347, 359. 

Whiskey Insurrection, resistance to 
writs, 70 ; marshal's house burned, 
70 ; m Fayette County, 70 ; distil- 
lers meet at Uniontown, 71; popu- 
lar meeting at Mingo Creek Meeting- 
house, 71 ; U. S. mails stopped, 72 ; 
circular calls militia to resist the 
law, and rendezvous at Parkinson's 
Ferry, 72 ; meeting of moderate men 
at Washington, 72 ; rendezvous at 
Parliinson's Ferry comitermanded, 
73 ; violent meeting at Braddock's 
Field, 73 ; numbers, estimate of, at, 
75; violent temper of the people, 
76 ; Gallatin's opposition to, 78 ; 
Hamilton determines to suppress, 
79 ; commissioners appointed, 79 ; 
Washington issues proclamation, 79 ; 
convention assembles at Parkinson's 
Ferry, 80; violent resolutions op- 
posed by Gallatin and withdrawn, 

82 ; committee of sixty appointed, 

83 ; commissioners arrive, 84 ; con- 
ference agree on form of submis- 
cion, 85 ; committee of sixty accept 
terms, 86 ; amnesty granted, 86 ; 
meetings for submission by signa- 
ture, 87 ; moderation in Fayette 
County, 88 ; threats of secession, 
89 ; secession flag, 89 ; commission- 
ers return to Philadelphia and re- 
port, 90 ; Washington calls out 
troops, 90 ; march in two columns, 
91 ; meeting of committee of sixty, 
91 ; committee sends delegates to the 
President, 91 ; final popular meet- 
ing at Parkinson's Ferry, 92 ; west- 
ern counties occupied by the army, 
92, 93 ; arrests made, 93 ; prisoners 
carried to Philadelphia, 94; return 
of the army, 96 ; cost of, 96 ; prose- 
cutions, 99. 

Wolcott, Oliver, Jr., secretary of 
treasury, 100 ; his situation com- 
miserated by Gallatin, 127 ; com- 
plains of influence of Gallatin, Mad- 
ison, and Jefferson, 131. 

Wolcott, Oliver, Jr., appointed to 
Treasury, 183. 

Woodbury, Levi, Secretary of Treas- 
ury, reports absolute extinguish- 
ment of U. S. debt, 281 ; establishes 
sub-treasury, 282. 

X, Y, Z dispatches, 154. 

YoRKTOWN, excise offenders proae- 
cuted at, 55. 



(:fj?T?J7T7P^nJ\T ^ singularly just, well-proportioned, and !» 

yi^J^I^JlKc>Ul\' teresting sketch of the personal and political 

career of the author of the Declaration of Independence. — Boston 
Journal. 

H/T J n r*^ n J\r '^^^ execution of the work deserves the highest 
MAUI^ UI\. praise. It is very readable, in a bright and vigor- 
ous style, and is marked by unity and consecutiveness of plan. — The 
Nation (New York). 

(^ AT T A TTIV ^^ ^^ °"^ °^ ^^ Tdo^t carefully prepared of these 
{j-AL,L,AIJI\. very valuable volumes, . . . abounding in infor- 
mation not so readily accessible as is that pertaining to men more 
often treated by the biographer. — Boston Correspojtdent Hartford 
Courant. 

MtlATP n R P>*6sident Oilman has made the most of his hero, 
MUl\KUrL. without the least hero-worship, and has done full 
justice to Mr. Monroe's " relations to the public service during half a 
century." . . . The appendix is peculiarly valuable for its synopsis of 
Monroe's Presidential Messages, and its extensive Bibliography of 
Monroe and the Monroe Doctrine. — N. V. Christian Intelligencer. 

rtn TThT n rrrJVr V ^nj M^ ^^^^ ^^- Morse's conclusions 
JOHN QUJA/CY AUAM^. ^-n ^^ ^^^ ^^-^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ 

posterity we have very little doubt, and he has set an admirable 
example to his coadjutors in respect of interesting narrative, just pro- 
portion, and judicial candor. — New York Evening Post. 

J? A ATTinr PTf ^^^ book has been to me intensely interesting. 
I^/Ll\UiJi.r'ii. Y^ is rich in new facts and side lights, and 

is worthy of its place in the already brilliant series of monographs 
on American Statesmen. — Prof. Moses Coit Tyler. 

c:f ACK'^ON P^o^sssor Sumner has ... all in all, made the 
•f^ UAOty^v. j^stgst jQj^g estimate of Jackson that has had itself 
put between the covers of a book. — New York Times. 

VATV R rrP F AT '^^^^ absorbing book. . . . To give any ade- 
t^^iy JD uj^iLiM. q^^^g .^^^ ^£ ^j^g personal interest of the book, 

or its intimate bearing on nearly the whole course of our political 
history, would be equivalent to quoting the larger part of it. — Brook- 
lyn Eagle. 

frj Y We have in this life of Henry Clay a biography of one of 
• the most distinguished of American statesmen, and a po- 
litical history of the United States for the first half of the nineteenth 
century. Indeed, it is not too much to say that, for the period 
covered, we have no other book which equals or begins to equal this 
life of Henry Clay as an introduction to the study of American poli- 
tics. — Political Science Quarterly (New York). 

WEBSTER ^^ ^''^ ^^ ^^^^ ^y students of history ; it will be 

invaluable as a work of reference; it will be an 

authority as regards matters of fact and criticism; it hits the key- 



c 



note of Webster's durable and ever-growing fame ; it is adequate, 
calm, impartial ; it is admirable. — Philadelphia Press, 

f^ y, T TT/^ rTAT Nothing can exceed the skill with which the political 
CAJ-y-tiU Uiy. career of the great South Carolinian is portrayed 
in these pages. . . . The whole discussion in relation to Calhoun's 
position is eminently philosophical and just. — The Dial (Chicago). 

TiJi ATTdlV ■^^ interesting addition to our political literature, 
j51Ll\l L IV. ^^^ ^^jj j^g q£ great service if it spread an admiration 
for that austere public morality which was one of the marked charac- 
teristics of its chief figure. — The Epoch (New York). 

CA 9 9 Professor McLaughlin has given us one of the most satis- 
C-rtfoo. factory volumes in this able and important series. . . . 
The early life of Cass was devoted to the Northwest, and in the 
transformation which overtook it the work of Cass was the work of 
a national statesman. — New York Times. 

T TTJCn r AT "^s ^ ^^^^ °^ Lincoln it has no competitors ; as a 
luJIML. UJ^1\. political history of the Union side during the Civil 
War, it is the most comprehensive, and, in proportion to its range, 
the most compact. — Harvard Graduates'' Magazine. 

OPU/-/1 pD The public will be grateful for his conscientious 
0-£i yVAKJJ. efforts to write a popular vindication of one of the 
ablest, most brilliant, fascinating, energetic, ambitious, and patriotic 
men in American history. — New York Evening Post. 

f-TTA e/T H'is great career as anti-slavery leader. United States 
LyTiACiJt,. ggmator, Governor of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury, 
and Chief Justice of the United States, is described in an adequate 
and effective manner by Professor Hart. 

CHASLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Si^e^hf Cm' Waf! 

and the masterly ability and consummate diplomatic skill displayed 
by him while Minister to Great Britain, are judiciously set forth by 
his eminent son. 

^riMATF P ^^^ majestic devotion of Sumner to the highest po- 
^ UIVliyiLK. ijtjcal ideals before and during his long term of lofty 
service to freedom in the United States Senate is fittmgly delineated 
by Mr. Storey. 

^TFVFMK Thaddeus Stevens was unquestionably one of the 
*^-C-^VO. j^Qgj. conspicuous figures of his time. . . . The book 
shows him the eccentric, fiery, and masterful congressional leaded 
that he was. — City and State (Philadelphia). 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 

4 Park St., Boston; 85 Fifth Avenue, New York 

378-388 Wabash Ave., Chicago 



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